Passionate about travel, Cooley Law student Codie Drake is pictured at the famous Angkor Wat, a Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Photo courtesy of Codie Drake
Photo courtesy of Codie Drake
By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
As Codie Drake was studying for the LSAT, she came across written notes from her elementary school days that read, “When I grow up, I want to be a … lawyer,” or “judge.”
How right that young Codie Drake was.
Now a rising 3L at Cooley Law School, Drake is one of three Cooley recipients of the $3,500 Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Foundation 2024 scholarships. She received the Jean Ledwith King Scholarship, sponsored by WLAM members, and named for the late Ann Arbor attorney who championed gender equity for millions of women in education, employment, politics and sports, and helped to lay the foundation for Title IX.
Drake says she mindfully chose to apply for that scholarship because King was a fierce advocate, change-maker, and determined to make an impact.
“I can’t wait to continue my pursuit to do the same in my legal career,” Drake says. “I’m humbled to have received the Jean Ledwith King Scholarship.”
In one of life’s little ironies, during undergrad Drake was president of the Stanley Reed Political Science and Pre-law Club, but swore up and down that she’d never go to law school.
“There’s an imaginary line that connects the past and present, whether you believe it, recognize it, or not, some things just align and are meant to be,” she says. “I chose to go to law school to become a better advocate and to learn the tools and skills to help assist others in navigating the law.”
She is thoroughly enjoying her law school experience while also working full-time, and notes Cooley professors are very knowledgeable, and share their law practice experience.
Recalling the words of the late Congressman John Lewis—who wrote, “Answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you believe”—Drake says she is passionate about the possibilities that law provides.
“That’s why I'm here, and I’ll continue to pursue that higher calling to help others along the way,” she says.
Drake earned her undergrad degree in history and political science from Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC), recruited to play Division II basketball on a scholarship. Although she no longer plays basketball, she retains that competitive spirit.
She was hooked on political science from her first class.
“It surprised me. It challenged me, my taught beliefs, my understanding of our country, the justice system, all of it. It taught me to find the gray in every concept, question everything, and be curious beyond face value. It lit a fire in me,” she says.
The week she started at Cooley in May 2022, Drake also began work as a Communications Advisor at the Michigan House of Representatives, writing speeches, talking points, press releases, statements, and anything else requested. She wrote for the Progressive Women’s Caucus of Michigan, Michigan’s Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention Caucus, and was a voice of 11 state representatives.
“The House has a robust atmosphere, many occasions to get to know a variety of people from all over the state and an impactful work focus,” she says.
Drake currently is a summer intern in a justice’s chambers at the Michigan Supreme Court.
“It’s amazing to receive hands-on experience and to better understand the daily work of an MSC clerk,” she says. “I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work inter alia with legally knowledgeable individuals, who are dedicated, and passionate about the law.”
Drake also is very appreciative of her mentor, Cooley alum Dave Coleman, her family’s attorney who also helped coach her in basketball.
Drake has had a wide variety of nonprofit volunteering experiences that have worked closely with the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights.
In 2019, while earning her master's at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Drake spent four months as an advocacy intern at UNICEF Ireland, she was lead coordinator for an interactive picture exhibition for the #Uprooted Campaign, that brought awareness and shared stories of children who experienced displacement and were on the move.
For the first six months of 2020, her work as a legal intern at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) in Phnom Penh provided experience in projects and research that focused on business in human rights, fair and free trial rights, and impunity. A member for the Fundamental Freedom Monitoring team, she reviewed and monitored social media information on violations of expression, association, and assembly; and researched and published newsletters on different new strategic litigation against public
participants, the withdrawal of Everything but Arms Trade Agreement, and other human rights concerns.
For the following nine months, she worked as a research and documentation assistant at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) Burma, where she collected and analyzed violations of civil and political rights while documenting arrests, and arbitrary detention of political prisoners.
Monthly, she assisted in accumulative publication on the human rights violations against political prisoners and the protection of civilians through the law, while advocating for an independent judiciary within Burma.
Working in the International Human Rights arena is not easy, she notes.
“It certainly has its paradoxes that workers must cope with—it isn’t always idealism— it’s a lot of grit and dedication,” she says.
For example, on February 1, 2021 while she was working on a report for AAPP Burma, news broke of the arrest of political leader Aung San Sue Kyi. Panic ensued and the advocacy and human rights work AAPP had done—and Drake had worked so hard on—was in extreme danger. The Burmese media buzzed over the November 8 election fraud claims months before the arrest, and it was clear the military was conducting a coup.
Drastic shifts within the organization and the country followed the takeover, and the high influx of political prisoners demonstrated the quick change in the political atmosphere. The once improving relationship between the government and AAPP instantly depleted, verified by the delegation of work, focused on writing tweets for potential staff member arrests. The members at risk of rearrest already served 3-10 years in prison, for their advocacy, from the 1988 student revolutions.
Drake, as a remote contributor to AAPP, was forced to evaluate how she was protected by a safety net of privilege while her compatriots suffered tangibly on the ground in Burma —and she wrestled with doubts as to whether she was an authentic human rights worker, an advocate or a fraud, or a hypocrite.
While a period of soul searching ensued, the experience eventually led Drake to law school to help sharpen her skills to better advocate for those who could not.
“I can continue to find ways, each day, to work toward equity and opportunity in this world and I believe going to law school will assist in this endeavor,” she says. “Working in human rights isn't the easy path, turning a blind eye is. International Human Rights law is a commitment to working in an arena that is very multidimensional with more than one paradigm at a time, from states to advocates they all have a perspective.”
Always goal-oriented, Drake has picked a goal and accomplished it, again, and again fixated on an endpoint.
“As I get older, I’m more aware the endpoint is never the end, it’s just a fallacy until I move the goalpost for myself, again,” she says. “I’m learning to enjoy the process instead—that’s what life is, a process.”
Moving away from setting limits on her career aspirations, she is applying for fellowships and would be open to considering a variety of career options that fit within her passions, beliefs, and work ethic.
“My career goal is to stand in my own personal power, continue to stay authentic to myself, and help others,” she says.
The Grand Ledge native explains her life motto—I will live 1,000 lives in just one lifetime while impacting a million more along the way— embodies not only authenticity to herself but also to her passions and priorities.
“I’ll continue to grow and learn all steps of the way, while showing empathy and kindness to those around me. What’s for me won’t pass me by, and any opportunity, new experience, challenge, is a life lived,” she says.
“Every day when I get up, I have a responsibility to live a life that’s truly uniquely mine, while also inspiring others to continue to pursue their dreams, providing a space to be heard, and bringing light to others even in times of seemingly impenetrable darkness.
Being compassionate matters, being authentic matters, and understanding that responsibility matters.”
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