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Dayton Docket

Law and (alphabetical) Order

By Carole Judge

“K” is for Katie, “L” is for lawyer, and “M” is for modest – the best way to describe Katie Wright ’14 whose accomplishments could be considered brag-worthy, yet she is humble. 

Chosen by a PBS affiliate in Ohio that produces a program titled “I Can be Anything I Want to Be, A to Z,” Wright took on the role of “L” with ease. 

Filmed a year ago, a camera crew set up in Clinton County where she was serving as an assistant prosecutor. The show is set in a career lab where kids learn about jobs that correlate with the alphabet. 

As the young actors run through a list of jobs that begin with “L,” Wright pops up on a large monitor. She confidently explains what different lawyers do and the responsibilities that come with the job, like solving problems. 

“I had been on camera during my previous career as a journalist, and I thought it would be a fun way to introduce kids to what a lawyer is,” says Wright whose nine young nieces and nephews give her perspective.

Invited to a screening of the finished episodes, Wright just recently met her on-screen, child co-stars, as her portion was filmed remotely. Excitement was already in the air, then it amplified, when producers announced the show, in its second season, had won a Regional Emmy Award for children’s programming.

Wright’s episode was chosen to kick off the new season, first airing in the Cleveland market as part of a program called NewsDepth. 

Alternative educational sources, like PBS, are valued by Wright who, along with her seven siblings, were home-schooled. Then, through online coursework, she managed to complete her undergraduate degree in two years.

It was while working as a reporter and covering the crime beat, Wright came to the realization that she’d prefer to be in the thick of legal cases rather than writing about them. She took the LSAT and accelerated her education once again by enrolling in Dayton Law’s Two-Year J.D. Program.

“I was surprised at how close I grew with my classmates in the two-year program. It felt like we were a class of our own, and we helped and supported each other. We formed a bond because we were facing the same challenges,” admits Wright.

After passing the bar, Wright returned to Clinton County in Ohio to make a difference in the community where she grew up, forming a free legal clinic for low income families. At the time, she was serving as an assistant prosecutor for the Child Support Enforcement Agency.  

Wright also obtained a grant from the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood to hire a fatherhood coordinator who mentors and assists non-custodial dads in danger of jail time.

“I believe that a prosecutor’s role should be to seek long-term solutions to crime in our communities, and often that does not mean sending someone to prison. Sometimes it means looking for creative ways to break the cycle. To me, that is precisely what being a lawyer is all about,” says Wright.

Eventually she shifted into the felony division of the prosecutor’s office before leaving this fall to embrace a new career as an educator. She is now in the front of the classroom as an adjunct professor of International Criminal Justice at Wilmington College.

“Now I’ll have the time and space for doing what I love, like teaching, writing and speaking. I’m interested in focusing on criminal justice and advocacy,” explains Wright whose passion on this topic fueled her to teach a Continuing Legal Education class on creative alternatives to incarceration in child support cases. 

She will also have more time for something else she learned while in law school – ballroom dance. 

“Dancing in Law School Taught Me About Learning,” is the title of an editorial published this summer in her hometown newspaper where she explains that not knowing how to dance is similar to not knowing what to do in court – but how acquiring skills is the same. 

“Being thrown into a moot court round had an eerie resemblance to the Tango music starting, in all its staccato suddenness. You’re never as ready as you want to be for a moot court round – or a Tango. But once it begins, you are forced to learn, to find your footing, to do your best even if you feel like you are falling apart,” she writes.

“When I received a disappointing grade early on in my law school career, I remember telling myself, ‘You’re still good at this. You’re still cut out for this.’ It is so easy to become discouraged and tell ourselves otherwise, especially in this field. Both law students and lawyers need reminders that we are not defined by disappointing grades or disheartening verdicts. We’re here for a reason, and often we need to practice bouncing back from disappointment and looking ahead to the next challenge,” encourages Wright whose positive attitude doesn’t let setbacks get the best of her.

It was the bounce in her step that prompted Wright to become a certified dance instructor and earned her a spot as a competitor in a local version of “Dancing with the Stars,” where she and her partner raised funds for the preservation of the 100-year-old Murphy Theatre in Wilmington, Ohio.

Adding “D” is for Dancer seems to have taught Wright how to be transported mentally and physically, creating balance in her life – in more ways than one. On to “P” for professor.

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