Megan Scalia Carries on Spouse and children Tradition

Inspite of her famed lineage, legislation school wasn’t a forgone conclusion for Megan Scalia.

Scalia, who earned her undergraduate diploma from the University of Virginia, is becoming a member of its incoming J.D. class this month. She is a granddaughter of Antonin Scalia, the late U.S. Supreme Court justice who taught at UVA Law early in his occupation.

“I understood him as Pop-Pop, not Justice Scalia,” she stated.

Even though she was near to her grandfather, the influential justice did not attempt to tutorial her in any certain profession route. Nevertheless, the tale of her academic journey is pretty substantially rooted in household, as well as the affect of a mentor at UVA.

Scalia’s grandfather wasn’t the only relative to come to be a law firm. Her father, Eugene Scalia (Col ’85) an uncle, John Scalia and a cousin, Will Courtney (Col ’13), are attorneys.

As a kid, she experienced heard her family’s legislation-related conversations and was not way too intrigued. What fascinated her extra ended up her siblings and how people today who were so genetically close could have these kinds of different personalities and dispositions. She is the second oldest of 7 children.

Maureen, Megan and Antonin Scalia

Megan Scalia and her grandfather, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and grandmother Maureen Scalia share a second during her superior school graduation. Courtesy photograph

So with a psychology key in intellect, she began classes at UVA, subsequent in the footsteps of her father and her mother, Patricia Larsen Scalia (Col ’91).

In her 3rd calendar year of undergraduate perform, Scalia elected to consider a course taught by a former legal professional, Professor Sherri Moore in the McIntire Faculty of Commerce, who was highly praised by Scalia’s classmates. Moore and her Commercial Regulation class “had a substantial impression on me,” Scalia explained. “Growing up, I observed the regulation as a small uninteresting. That class definitely brought the subject to everyday living and confirmed me a deeply human side of the law.”

Eager to learn extra, Scalia took Business Regulation II with Moore, and Media Policy and Legislation with Christopher Ali the next semester. In her fourth year, she grew to become just one of Moore’s teaching assistants for Professional Legislation I. Scalia documented lectures and aided Moore solution students’ queries, which deepened her comprehension of the materials.

“It’s a person issue to understand it your self,” she said, “but it is another to clarify the product to many others with various ranges of familiarity with the U.S. authorized program.”

With her new fascination, Scalia determined to take a look at no matter whether she seriously required to come to be a attorney. Pursuing her third calendar year she interned with the Washington, D.C., firm RuyakCherian, where by she went on to perform as a lawful administrative assistant soon after graduating in 2019. She assisted put together courtroom documents and exhibits, and even participated as a “witness” in mock depositions.

“I imagine operating at a modest firm supplied place for expansion and arms-on exposure to the legal procedure that I may possibly not have had at a larger sized agency,” she reported.

Scalia is on the lookout forward to starting courses and figuring out how she may well operate her pursuits in psychology and small children into her research. A previous tutor at UVA’s Madison Home, she is contemplating signing up for the Youth Advocacy and Holistic Juvenile Defense clinics.

She’s also fascinated in extracurricular pursuits this kind of as Popular Regulation Grounds, a dialogue group at the Legislation School that encourages dialogue across differences.

“One of the factors that would make UVA excellent is that diversity of believed and view is valued,” Scalia mentioned. “In legislation school, it would seem you’re carrying out your self a disservice if you never consider advantage of the chance to learn from the lived experiences of your classmates.”

Now that she’s on program to generate a J.D., her spouse and children the natural way has viewpoints about the course she really should get the moment she’s a practicing attorney. Scalia will be the 1st feminine lawyer in her loved ones. Her grandfather died in 2016, ahead of he could find out of her preference. She wishes he could in some way add his ideas to the family dialogue.

“Of system, I definitely want he had been right here so I could request him inquiries,” she claimed, “but I recall a professor at UVA advised me after he handed that, due to the fact of all he’s written, I’ll nonetheless have access to him throughout the several years.”

Meet the 1Ls