Sydney McRae: Working hard and being resilient

Second-year student Sydney M. McRae learned to “take it all in stride” during her first year of law school. She utilized her drive and aspirations while discovering her sense of belonging at the School of Law.

McRae worked at domestic violence shelters during high school and while an undergraduate student at UGA. These experiences made her realize she wanted to pursue a career that serves children affected by family violence.

“Our childhood plays such a big role in making us who we are,” she said. “I believe working with and serving children has the greatest potential to be a ripple effect.”

McRae considered many different career paths including social work and counseling, but it was her internship with then-Superior Court Judge Benjamin A. “Ben” Land (J.D.’92) in the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit that showed her how she could utilize a law degree to advocate for children in her community.

Recalling an attorney fumbling over the details during a domestic dispute proceeding, McRae said, “It just made it so much harder to follow the case – the trajectory of the event. I realized the urgent need for forthright lawyers, and that was something that I knew I could do.”

Although her first year of law school was challenging, she enjoyed being in an environment composed of bright students bouncing ideas off of each other in a way that she had never experienced before.

“It was hard, but I enjoyed every second of it,” McRae said. “I think 1L was the first time I’ve really loved school because I was able to see so clearly that there was purpose behind everything that we were doing.”

McRae felt that UGA was her best choice for law school. Her decision to enroll was bolstered by her receipt of the Wilson Distinguished Law Fellowship and the school’s mentorship program. She described the School of Law’s peer and professional mentor network as incredible.

Her parents also support her in law school and her other life goals. Of note, her mother, Laurie Cochran McRae, is a 1998 UGA Law alumna who currently works as a family office advisor for Blue Trust and serves on the Muscogee County Board of Education.

“My parents are a big part of the reason I have never doubted that I can do anything I set my mind to,” McRae said. “They provide constant support and encourage me to work hard and be resilient in everything I pursue, and I am eternally grateful for them.”

This past summer, McRae served as a judicial clerk for Judge Lisa Godbey Wood (J.D.’90) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia and Judge Leigh Martin May (J.D.’98) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

McRae hopes to work in both the Wilson Family Justice Clinic and the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic before graduation. She also plans to participate in the school’s Washington, D.C. Semester in Practice.

McRae is exploring many opportunities to determine the best career path for her. While she has considered having a family law practice, becoming a Juvenile Court judge and teaching, she intends to keep an open mind as she completes her legal education.

“Right now, I am trying to take it all in stride and work hard to keep as many doors open as possible for when I graduate,” she said.

Joshua Patton: Crafting a path of advocacy

Recent graduate Joshua H. Patton believes “when you really plan ahead and keep the big picture in mind, things will work out.” This philosophy guided him through the experiences he had earning his Juris Doctor.

Patton entered the School of Law planning to use the skills he obtained from earning his J.D. to begin a career in higher education administration. He enjoyed working with students, an interest that stemmed from his experience as a UGA orientation leader and president of the Georgia Daze minority recruitment program. However, he later discovered that he wanted to become a litigator.

“[Litigation] is a good avenue for me to use what I think I’m good at, which is writing and oral advocacy,” Patton said. “It’s all about advocacy and really representing your client.”

Patton developed these skills in moot court competitions during his law school career. He was a member of the UGA team that won the 2024 Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship and the team that finished as finalists and won the Best Brief Award in the 2023 Intrastate Moot Court Competition.

“Getting that experience was very helpful, because it just showed me something that I was better at than I thought,” Patton said. “I knew I could speak in front of groups, but I had never done it in the legal sense – making substantive arguments – which I really enjoyed.”

The Appellate Litigation Clinic enabled Patton to practice litigation in a real-world setting. Alongside Clinic Director Thomas V. Burch and other law students, Patton worked on appellate cases in several circuits. In February, he argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“I think that’s a really big accomplishment, because it is an experience I hadn’t really had – working with real clients and being able to know that you’re really having an impact on their lives,” he said.

Patton will clerk for Judge Leigh Martin May (J.D.’98) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia for two years starting September 2024. Then, he will work at Troutman Pepper following his clerkship.

He also aspires to return to UGA as a law school professor one day. He served as a teacher’s assistant in Associate Professor Christian Turner’s undergraduate course, Foundations of American Law. Patton said this experience was “very rewarding,” and it showed him that he had an interest in teaching later in his career.

“Being able to come back and work at the place you went to undergrad and law school would be a dream, for sure,” Patton said. “I would be open to anything, but UGA would be probably my number one choice.”

Patton added that he was thankful for the professors and colleagues he built a community with during law school as well as the opportunities that the School of Law provided to him.

“I was locked into the UGA Law experience as soon as I got here,” he said. “I’m so happy that this is the decision I made, because all of the opportunities I had here were all I needed to be successful and start my legal career.”

Wesley Tillman: Progressing with purpose

Third-year student Wesley E. Tillman feels honored to be a part of the School of Law community. He says he is inspired every day by “not only [his] classmates and professors but also [his] future colleagues and fellow advocates.”

While working in commercial real estate after earning his business degree from UGA, Tillman decided he wanted to pursue a career that had more purpose and fulfillment.

“My decision to come to law school was just wanting to work toward getting a postgraduate degree that was going to spark my interest and fulfill my ultimate goal to be not only passion driven but also purpose driven,” he said.

Tillman entered law school with a strong interest in corporate law. However, he developed an interest in healthcare law after undergoing a surgery during his first semester of law school. (Of note, his injury occurred during an intramural flag football game with his classmates.)

“That [injury] really exposed me to the healthcare industry on a personal level, and that really sparked my interest in how the healthcare system works,” he said.

After his recovery, Tillman worked in the Grady Health System legal counsel office during the summer of 2023 as part of the school’s Corporate Counsel Externship program. He said this externship was his favorite experience in law school so far as it gave him an opportunity to explore some long-term career goals.

His experience at Grady led him to pursue an internship with Huff Powell Bailey, a law firm that focuses on defense work for hospitals and physicians.

“It was my first law firm experience, and the attorneys there are great people,” Tillman said. “There are a couple of younger associates who graduated from UGA Law who I had a chance to speak with before working there, so I was excited from the start.”

Tillman has also connected with other UGA Law graduates for guidance and support and has been impressed with the attention and care that the Law Dawgs have demonstrated when talking with him.

“The level of respect that they have not only for the profession in and of itself but also the UGA Law community – it is unspeakable,” Tillman said. “I think that’s what really drew me [to the School of Law when researching schools]. This was the only law school I applied to, and it was really solidified and confirmed through speaking with the alums.”

Tillman also engaged with the law school community through the school’s mentorship program as a mentee during his first year and as a mentor during his second year. He guided three mentees during the 2023-24 academic year. “[Participating in] the mentor program at UGA Law has definitely been one of my biggest accomplishments,” he said. “[Mentors] are there as a resource and as a tool to help navigate an unfamiliar space. I hope I imparted some sort of wisdom.”

Tillman’s ultimate career goal is to be a general counsel like his mother, Audrey Boone Tillman, a 1989 UGA Law alumna who currently serves as executive vice president and general counsel for Aflac.

“My mom is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and she’s also one of the humblest people I’ve ever met,” Tillman said. “She’s definitely made lasting impressions on me, and I think having [the general counsel position] as an end goal – if I set my sights on that – I think I will have done pretty well.”

—All Profiles by Mason A. Brock