Law grad receives Court clerkship
By MARIBEL MOREY
News Writer
Margaret Ryan Collins, a 1995 Notre Dame Law School graduate, has been appointed to a Supreme Court Clerkship, one of the most prestigious honors a recent law school graduate can attain.
She credits the education she received at Notre Dame for much of her success.
"If it weren't for the Notre Dame faculty past, present and new," she said, "I wouldn't be clerking for the Supreme Court."
Collins applied — with references from three Notre Dame law faculty — to each of the nine Supreme Court Justices. She considers herself lucky to have gotten a response from the one she wanted to work with, Justice Clarence Thomas.
"[This opportunity] is like a gift from God because there are so many qualified people," said Collins, who graduated first in her class. "Ninety percent is luck and references."
Clerks assist judges in culling through information presented in court.
"I ravel at the fact that you can reach at the truth," said Collins. She looks forward to focusing purely on legal issues as a clerk; at her current firm, Collins focuses on one side of the story – the side she represents on behalf of her Washington law firm.
After graduating from Knox College in Illinois in 1985, Collins served as a military communications officer with the Marine Corps, and later joined the Corps' law education program. This program allowed Collins to choose any law school she wished; she picked Notre Dame.
"They really believe that to be a lawyer, you need to be a good person, too," she said. "The Supreme Court is interested in people with excellent characters who have the ability to do work and discern from briefs and find the truth."
At law school, Collins met her husband, who graduated second in their class, and the couple wed before Collins traveled to Japan with the Marines.
Not wanting to make the military a full-time career, she returned to Washington, D.C., to be with her husband and practice private law.
After working for a firm in the nation's capital for one year, Collins now will move to the Supreme Court and take a 66 percent pay cut for the opportunity.
All News Stories for Friday, January 21, 2000
