By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
After discovering earth sciences during a University of Michigan “Intro to Geology” lab, McKenna Thayer had found her undergraduate major.
“It is literally our foundation and impacts everything — the energy we use, where and how we live, what resources we have access to,” she said. “It was such a cool way to study the future of our cities as we face climate change through an energy and resource focus.
“Every class changed the way I looked at the world around me —something I’ve also found in law school but in a very different sense.”
But although Thayer loved geology, especially fieldwork, her real passion is people.
“I was growing tired of reading the news about so many injustices with our criminal system, and I felt like I was on the sidelines,” she said. “One day it just kind of hit me — actually, while I was listening to a very tedious legal podcast — that there was no reason I couldn’t go to law school and become a lawyer.
“So I signed up for the LSAT, took it about a month later, applied to Wayne Law as I knew I wanted to be in Detroit, and decided to totally flip my career.”
Now a 2L, Thayer appreciates Wayne Law’s size and location.
“I love Detroit, and I get to live in my favorite city with my partner while in school,” she said. “My day-to-day life, while hectic and filled with so much reading, is exactly what I’ve always wanted. I love how the school is small enough I can get to know my peers and professors easily, which has allowed me to learn so much outside of the classroom.”
Thayer’s passion is criminal defense and civil rights —“because of the advocacy lawyers get to practice for people who have been oppressed by every system they come into contact with,” she said.
“I think the fact I could improve people’s lives and break down oppressive systems,” she added, “all while working with people and following the community’s lead is what I’m looking forward to most.”
Thayer’s career goal is to become a public defender, eventually moving into a role where she can focus on abolition work through policy and advocacy.
“A lot of people say the criminal system is broken — when you look at mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, cash bail, and all of the other aspects of our criminal system it’s easy to see,” she said. “But it’s worse than that — the system isn’t broken, it is working as it was designed to. Our current system of policing and jails/prisons is a system of white supremacy.
“I came to law school to be an advocate against systems of oppression, systems of white supremacy, so it feels like the only clear path for me is in liberation and abolition. Because of my own privilege I benefit from the systematic oppression, so I have a personal responsibility to push back and change that system.”
This past summer, Thayer interned remotely with the Detroit Justice Center, finding it fulfilling to work with organizations directly aligned with her own personal values.
“This was something I hadn’t experienced yet, but it impacts every day and every interaction, she said. “I knew we all had the same goals, I felt respected and valued, and I felt empowered.”
Thayer’s work mostly involved research on future potential litigation strategies and supporting DJC in a case against the Wayne County Jail. She worked with some National Lawyers Guild attorneys and visited jails to help ensure people incarcerated were protected during the pandemic.
As a Wayne Law research assistant, she worked with Prof. Justin Long and a student team looking into a potential state constitutionalism case under the Michigan Constitution, focusing on how litigation could be used to improve public education.
“I learned a lot about the history of education in Michigan, the problems with our current state funding system, who is empowered to effect change, and what I want the future of our state education system to look like,” she said. “The team I worked with was incredible, and I feel I learned so much with every conversation and meeting.
Thayer is secretary on the National Lawyers Guild that she describes as “a radical organization fighting for human rights over property interests.” She has done some legal observing, and connected people to volunteer and activism opportunities.
She also serves as vice president of community outreach for Outreach for the Women’s Law Caucus, organizing fund-raising and outreach events for members.
Thayer also is a participant in mock trial, noting it has been more fun and challenging than expected.
“Besides being an invaluable experience with a truly impressive team, I feel like I’m improving every day with my oral advocacy, organization, and planning skills,” she said. “Plus, I get to act like a lawyer with my friends — what could be better than that?”
The Hillsdale native finds the “Zoom School of Law” a challenge, working from her home in a neighborhood near Detroit’s New Center area.
“I’m an extreme extrovert, so being so isolated has been specifically difficult for me,” Thayer said. “I think what I miss most was the learning that happened in the hallways and after class — my friends and I would clarify material we didn’t understand during class, talk to the professor, continue a debate from class. All of this helped me learn the material, and you don’t get as much of that in the pandemic.
An alumna of Hillsdale High School where she was drum major of a small band, Thayer then became the second-ever female drum major of the Michigan Marching Band (MMB) — and first in more than 15 years — an experience she likened to playing on a sports team.
“It was competitive, time-intensive and collaborative,” she said. “I learned a lot about pushing through my nerves in order to perform in front of crowds of over 110,000 people or teaching over 400 band members over the course of two weeks.
“I think that translates to the courtroom really well. I have a goal and I have a lot of complicated steps to reach it, and it really is a performance, but I know I’m capable because I’m in control of my own nerves.”
Thayer added that the MMB is big on traditions — and the most important lesson she learned was when traditions are valuable and carry an organization toward its goals, and when it is okay to break those traditions for something better.
“I think being in a leadership position of such a historic organization taught me how to productively question the way we do things — which helped me improve the MMB and helps me push back on the parts of legal culture that aren’t serving our best interest as lawyers or law students,” she said. “Because I was able to stand in front of the MMB and Michigan community, with their support, as the second female ever in that space, I feel comfortable standing up in spaces where others voices are traditionally excluded.”
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