Alumni Beat

Noah Patterson, our recently transitioned and faithful correspondent from Denver, has six questions for Clinton Lipscomb.

Noah: What have you been doing since you interned at the Center for Justice?

Clinton: I left the Center in May 2007 when I graduated from Whitworth College, and moved to New Jersey to work at a middle school in connection with the Teach for America program. It didn’t take me long to realize that teaching wasn’t for me, and that I needed to be around the law in order to feel fulfilled. In July 2008 I joined the Manhattan firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton as an administrator.

Noah: When did you work at the Center and what was your role?

Clinton: My tenure at the Center lasted from September 2006 through May 2007, during which time I was a Community Advocacy Intern specializing in landlord-tenant relations, helping to resolve conflicts between both parties.

Noah: What effect did working on Community Advocacy cases have on you?

Clinton: Working in Community Advocacy helped to give me a local focus in my passion for justice. My interests were primarily around international issues when I started work at the Center, and my time there showed me that justice is more than an abstract concept to be applied to faraway lands. It is real, and it is practical, and it is needed all around me.

Noah: What are your plans or dreams for the future?

Clinton: I’ll be taking the LSAT next June, and plan to go to law school in the fall of 2010 or ’11, where I would like to focus on international humanitarian and human rights law. Beyond that, who knows?

Noah: If you could say one thing to a staff member (either collectively or to a specific individual) at the Center, what would that be?

Clinton: Everybody: even when it doesn’t feel like it, people appreciate the work you do.

Noah: Do you have a favorite book? If so, what is it and why?

Clinton: My favorite book is The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. I’m not sure I have a reason, but I can assure you that it’s not a children’s book, and you should definitely give it a shot.