Former Teach for America instructor eyes a career as transactional lawyer

By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News

Wayne State University Law School student Amy Huang got her first taste of the law by meeting lawyers and law school students through policy debate at her high school in Chicago.

“I loved how debate challenged me to think critically and answer arguments on my feet,” she says.

She continues that passion as a junior member of Wayne Law’s Moot Court, and represented the school in the Billings Constitutional Law Moot Court competition held March 31 to April 3 in North Carolina.

“I dislike public speaking, but Moot Court has given me the confidence to discuss complex legal issues with other students, professors, and practitioners,” she says.

A 2L focusing on business law, Huang earned her undergrad degree, cum laude, in psychology at the University of Southern California, where she was executive
director of the USC Asian Pacific American Student Assembly.

She completed her master’s degree in Teaching Secondary Math from Oakland University, studying part-time while teaching full time for two years at Mumford High School in Detroit as a corps member of Teach for America.

“TFA was a challenging but ultimately great experience,” she says. “I love keeping in touch with my students. My students who were sophomores when I taught them are now seniors looking forward to graduation and college.”

Huang headed to Wayne Law in 2014, where she is a member of Delta Theta Phi, and aims to graduate next year.

“My classmates and professors are great people to get to know and learn from,” she says.

She currently serves as president of the Women’s Law Caucus.

“I gained immensely from the mentoring and programming as a 1L, and it’s been fulfilling serving as president this year. Once a teacher, always a teacher – I love passing on knowledge to the 1Ls in the organization,” she says.  “We also gave back to the community through volunteering at a homeless shelter and adopting a family for the holidays.”

She also served as an assistant editor of Wayne Law Review – something that she notes has significantly improved her writing and editing skills. She will serve as production editor next year.

She has clerked at Pitt, McGehee, Palmer, & Rivers PC in Royal Oak, and interned with U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, Eastern District of Michigan, in downtown Detroit.

“These internships after my 1L year gave me an opportunity to practice my researching and writing skills while exposing me to the actual practice of law,” she says.

Huang, who plans to practice as a transactional attorney, currently is interning in the legal department at Masco Corp. in Taylor.

“I’ve been lucky to work on a variety of interesting assignments for the legal department, and it’s been a truly great educational experience learning about the important role that in-house attorneys play in a corporation,” she says. “My goal is to positively impact Detroit and the surrounding areas through my work as a business attorney at a big law firm.”

In her leisure time, the Farmington Hills resident is a passionate runner, has completed five half-marathons, and in October hopes to complete her first full marathon.

“It amazes me that I now run longer distances than I ever imagined I could as a teenager running 1-3 miles at a time,” she says. “Running has taught me to believe in myself and to keep going even when I’m tired.

She has been coaching fifth- and sixth-graders in Farmington Hills since last September, in the Girls on the Run International organization.

“I love being able to share my passion for running with young girls. I love watching the growth of my girls over a season – they develop confidence, friendships, and the belief they can accomplish anything they put their minds to.”

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