Carter Christopher: Building a career through connections

Recent graduate Carter J. Christopher knew law school was the path for him since he was in middle school.

The first time he thought he wanted to go to law school was in the fifth or sixth grade. “My best friend, her dad was an attorney, and I thought he was the coolest guy in the world. I was not quite sure what he did, but I knew I liked who he was.”

What started as admiration gradually became direction for Christopher’s own life. He understood his strengths and where those strengths could take him. “I always knew I liked writing and reading,” Christopher said. “I thought [law school] would be a good way to use my skills.”

Christopher, who grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, attended Princeton University where he was a member of the football team. While the COVID-19 pandemic gave him an additional year of eligibility, he chose to move on after earning his undergraduate degree in politics.

He was introduced to UGA following his junior year of college. Christopher interned during the summer with Warren R. “Wit” Hall Jr. (J.D.’92) at Hall, Gilligan, Roberts & Shanlever in Atlanta and had the opportunity to tour campus and fell in love with the environment and the people.

“They always say that the people make the place. Everyone I’ve met [in Athens], from my immediate friend group to alumni and mentors to people that I see every day in class, they’ve really made a difference,” Christopher said. “Law school can be an isolating place and with this community you’ll never walk alone.”

Law school, however, still required some adjustments. After being a top student in high school and attending an Ivy League university, he found that UGA Law challenged him in new ways.

“Many people come into law school knowing the answer to a problem but struggle going through the [step-by-step] process. I think learning how to use my brain in this way is when I started approaching problems from a new perspective and succeeding as a law student,” Christopher, a recipient of the Chester C. Davenport Scholarship, added.

After graduation in May, Christopher joined Kirkland & Ellis in New York City to practice corporate bankruptcy and restructuring.

While he always knew New York was where he wanted to end up, his path to the Big Apple was forged by the Law Dawg network. Through former Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, he met Michael J. Sharp (J.D.’91) at the Jefferies Financial Group. The connection allowed Christopher to complete a semester externship during his second year of law school in New York at Sharp’s firm, working in the office of the general counsel.

Christopher said Dean Usha R. Rodrigues, who led his corporations class, was one of his other primary mentors. “I really liked the way that she taught and required our attention. … If you were not prepared and paying attention, she would let you know, which I think forced me to critically grapple with materials. In turn, she was always open to answer questions or respond to any comments I had,” Christopher said. “I got to form a really good relationship with her, and she helped me through a lot of law school, whether it was with class, connecting with alumni, or kickstarting my career.”

Beyond the classroom, UGA Law reshaped how Christopher sees the world. “My view of the world has definitely changed a lot since attending law school,” he said. “A big part of that is the people I interacted with while being there.”

Brigman Moore: Called to serve

As a third-year law student, Brigman T. Moore has already balanced the roles of soldier, student, husband and father.

During his undergraduate years at Georgia Southern University, he enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard and enrolled in GSU’s ROTC program, excited by the opportunity to serve in more than one way.

“I wanted to serve in a military capacity and provide some sort of public service as a civilian too,” he said. “I was learning a lot about history and politics, and it seemed that lawyers made a lot of positive changes in our country throughout history.”

Moore started at UGA Law in the fall of 2023. After completing his first semester, his studies had to pause. He received orders to deploy to the Middle East for nine months.

From January through March of 2024, he trained at Fort Bliss in Texas before mobilizing overseas. His unit was based in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, and he served as an intelligence officer in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Israel.

“It was awesome, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a tremendous experience,” he said.

His deployment meant missing two semesters of law school; thus, Moore resumed his studies in the spring of 2025, becoming a member of the Class of 2027.

Returning to law school came with a set of challenges that he wasn’t expecting. “Counterintuitively, the most difficult part was actually coming back,” he said. “It was a huge adjustment trying to balance family life with the rigors of law school again after being gone for nearly a year.”

Support from the law school community was instrumental in his transition back to campus. While joining a different cohort of students as classmates, he found a strong network specifically among fellow military vets. “Formally, there’s the Armed Forces Association [law student organization] and, informally, the group of veterans who currently attend and [those who] graduated from UGA Law is really tight-knit,” he said.

Even during deployment, Moore stayed connected to the Law Dawg network. Overseas, he routinely spoke with Frank G. Lumpkin IV (J.D.’23), who served as a judge advocate for a neighboring task force after Moore “departed theater.”

“It was really great to talk to him and hear his experience and to connect with somebody from UGA Law while I was abroad,” he said.

The School of Law has supported Moore not only through a strong network but with educational funding as well. He is the recipient of the Judge Charles B. Mikell Jr. Scholarship Fund, which is one of a series of endowments that combine to guarantee financial aid to all veterans enrolled at UGA Law (often referred to as the Butler Commitment).

Active on campus, he served as a notes editor for the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law and president of the Dean’s Ambassadors student organization. Additionally, earlier this year, he and a fellow veteran, Clifford M. Hodges, represented UGA Law in the American Bar Association Law Student Tax Challenge in San Diego, where they finished as semifinalists.

This past summer, he worked with two Atlanta firms – Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and Eversheds Sutherland – to continue building the foundation for his future legal career.

Although his path to graduating law school has not been traditional, Moore’s journey reflects his goals of serving and making a difference.

“Wherever my family and I end up, I want to be well-rooted in my community and to have a positive impact on my surrounding area.”

Bella Chitwood: Homegrown advocate

Growing up in Georgia, second-year student Isabella G. “Bella” Chitwood always knew she would find herself at the University of Georgia. Combining her love for school with her desire to help others, she realized early on that law school was the perfect fit for her.

“The law has always interested me because it’s always changing and there’s always something new to learn,” Chitwood said. “I also wanted a career where I could help people.”

During high school, she discovered the UGA 3+3 admissions process, which allows qualified students to apply to law school during their third year of undergraduate studies. “When I was researching majors, I saw the 3+3 program. Psychology was one of the degrees you can do with that, so while I was planning my dual enrollment courses, I was keeping that in mind,” she said.

“To get a whole year off the time I might have spent in college, so I can get out and practice and get hands-on experience sooner, that’s really been great,” Chitwood, who is a recipient of the Loudermilk Family First-Start Scholarship, said.

A big part of her decision to not only attend UGA, but to accelerate her academic path, was her connection to home. Originally from Northeast Georgia, Chitwood is the second-oldest of five children and commutes daily between home and Athens.

“I have a lot of connections with Hartwell, and my family is in Hartwell, but that’s also two hours that are cut out of my day,” she said. “The most challenging aspect of law school for me has been just balancing my time.”

Chitwood hopes to practice in the Northern Judicial Circuit, which includes her hometown, and sees her law school education as preparation to give back to the community that gave so much to her.

“I’m particularly interested in family law,” she said. “Being from Hartwell, there are a lot of smaller practices and individual attorneys who do a lot of important work, and I got experience with how much of an impact one attorney can have on a family.”

Her long-term goal is to join a general practice firm so she can stay rooted in her community while serving a range of clients. During her first year in law school, she found an interest in civil procedure and learned how important details are in helping clients.

Outside of the classroom, Chitwood participated in the J. Ralph Beaird 1L Closing Argument Competition and finished as a quarterfinalist. “It was really fun after mainly doing just academic stuff, to actually try and put together an argument and talk before people, and to also get to know more people who were outside of my section,” she said.

“I love UGA Law. It’s a great law school, and God has really blessed me here,” she said. “Even though it is a competitive education, it doesn’t actually infringe on our actual personal relationships.”

Relationships – both in and out of school – helped Chitwood, who started law school at age 19, through her first year. She knows they will continue to influence her life as she works toward her legal career.

“Everybody’s super supportive, super nice, everybody congratulates each other when they get something, that’s my favorite part of actually being at UGA Law,” she said.

—All profiles by Caroline L. Passaro