Phylicia Coleman reads to students on Law Day 2025 at Lonnie B. Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Phylicia Coleman)
The first thing that often comes to mind when people think of a legal career is a character they have seen on TV dramas like “Law & Order” or those featured in a John Grisham novel or movie.
This week, we recognize Community Law Week, and, as a practicing attorney, I want to use this opportunity to help people understand that there are so many other roles lawyers play that don’t involve high-profile court cases and so many ways to find your place in this profession.
Like so many of my colleagues, my journey to becoming a lawyer wasn’t the fulfillment of my childhood dream.
From the age of 7, when the inevitable question was asked — what do you want to be when you grow up — my answer was always a teacher.
To me, that was the logical path for someone who wanted to be in front of a group of people talking about a subject I loved.
Fast forward seven years, and my plans changed dramatically — or so I thought. As a 14-year-old high school freshman, I decided that law school was the direction I was headed. But I knew I wanted a more non-traditional role.
In law school, I found my passion for compliance and contracts.
For fun, I read contracts to identify important clauses and sought to understand why they were phrased in a particular way. As a professional, I took great pride in reading and applying policies in ways that would benefit businesses and individuals.
This was my way of becoming the teacher I thought I wanted to be long ago.
My clients became employees of agencies, the community, and student-athletes. My curriculum was state laws, federal regulations, ethics rules and NCAA rules. My classroom was a conference table, telephone calls, and Microsoft Teams meetings.
But the mission was the same: to help people become more educated and successful.
On May 1, nationally recognized as Law Day, I get to take my expertise to a real classroom.
As part of this SC Bar celebration, my colleagues in the Young Lawyers Division and I will be going into schools around the state to educate students about the legal profession.
Forty-eight teachers from Walterboro to Westminster have invited us to read books about being a lawyer to elementary school students and answer questions from older students about what it is like to have a career in law. This year, I have the pleasure of visiting Meadow Glenn Middle School in Lexington.
This day of recognition and education began at the American Bar Association back in 1957, nearly 60 years ago.
Today, Law Day provides the South Carolina Bar, made up of more than 19,000 members, the opportunity to remind our neighbors and communities of our mission to promote high-quality legal education and to continually improve the administration of justice in the Palmetto State.
Just as my career ambitions evolved, the legal profession has grown and changed since the inception of Law Day. It is my hope, as a lawyer-educator, that I can help grow the appreciation of and pursuit of the wide-ranging careers in America’s unique legal system.
Our judicial branch is designed to uphold order, deliver justice, and protect individual rights with the goal of protecting a stable and fair society. To me, a career in our legal system is a noble pursuit and one I encourage others to consider.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
