By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Wayne Law rising 3L student Eberechi Ogbuaku recently returned from the nation’s capital, one of three Wayne Law students in the inaugural class of a new semester-long externship program in Washington DC- “Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital.”
Ogbuaku externed at the nonprofit Advancement Project in D.C., a national organization that supports other grassroots civil rights nonprofits.
Ogbuaku was involved with projects aimed at stopping the school-to-prison pipeline and providing incarcerated people’s rights as well as advancing voter rights.
“The work was focused on abolition as opposed to reforming systems,” she said. “There were lots of conversations on how rethink the status quo and create change where a society empowers Black and Brown communities. I had a lot to learn so I did a lot of background reading to know just how pervasive these issues were. It was amazing being in D.C. doing that work.”
When her externship ended at the end of April, Ogbuaku returned to Detroit for a summer associate program with Honigman and for her 3L year at Wayne Law.
In her second summer at Honigman, as a summer associate through the Summer Clerkship Program offered by the Wolverine Bar Association, she took on several assignments in different areas, including mergers and acquisition (M&A), public company, and commercial law.
“Last summer at Honigman, I liked working on the real estate assignments. It was interesting to see how real estate transactions happen behind the scenes,” she said. “I also met many great people. Even though we were still transitioning out of the strict COVID protocols, they still made an effort for us to get to know attorneys and other summer associates.
This summer, she said, she was involved in more work in the corporate departmen and took on assignments “that are a little outside of my comfort zone like intellectual property and privacy law.”
Ogbuaku launched her academic trajectory with an undergraduate degree in international/global studies from the University of Michigan with a minor in accounting from the U-M Ross School of Business.
Her undergrad years included a study abroad period at Aix-Marseille University in France, and she wrote a blog about her experiences
After graduation, she spent two years as a staff auditor at Ernst & Young in Detroit, working primarily with clients in the automotive, manufacturing, oil & gas and healthcare sectors.
“I liked that I was trained on understanding how businesses operate,” Ogbuaku said. “Essentially, my job was to verify what the company reported was accurate — that meant I had to know how to look at financial statement and read beyond the numbers.
Ogbuaku, who also holds a Certificate of Readiness in Business Analytics, Accounting, and Economics in an online course from Harvard Business School, headed to Wayne Law in 2019, and enjoys having been able to create her own path.
“I’ve gotten to do the D.C. program and there are some interesting independent studies I’m planning,” she said.
Ogbuaku said she was “drawn to law because it intersects with every area of life — like accounting,
“I felt a legal degree would be very transferrable in any field,” she said. “Every business needs an accountant and a lawyer, so I’d like to combine both my business background and legal knowledge to my career.”
While she is not yet sure of her eventual subgroup of law, she is focused on business and transactional law.
“I'm still figuring out what that looks like, but I’m honestly excited to see how my journey will look,” she said.
Ogbuaku received the Damon J. Keith Scholarship from the Wolverine Bar Foundation in 2021, earning the award for emulating the type of commitment to social equality and combating racism demonstrated by Judge Damon J. Keith throughout his career.
The pandemic and remote classes presented a few challenges.
“I definitely took — and still take — breaks away from the computer to cope with remote work,” she said. “I try to change my scenery by going to coffee shops.
“I was mostly doing work for my internship remotely, but my class was in-person in D.C. I went all over the city finding cute places to work – I loved doing that! I’m still glad I got to be in D.C.”
She enjoys serving in the Black Law Students Association, and served as the 2021-22 professional development chair for BLSA.
“BLSA connects people and opportunities. It’s a national organization so I can bond with many people I’ve met just based on our involvement with BLSA, and it’s something I can bond over with people not only in my school but in the city and nationally. I love the business network and the shared experience.”
Originally from Inkster, Ogbuaku now lives in Detroit and in her leisure time enjoys dancing, reading and cooking.
Passionate about travel, she has visited Nigeria, Uganda, Morocco, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, France, England, Spain, Iceland, Ireland, and Monaco.
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