Since graduating with the highest GPA in the University of Virginia School of Law’s Class of 2024 and receiving the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence, Haley Gorman has put her knowledge to work.
Gorman began clerking for Chief Judge David Barron at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston after graduation and has another clerkship lined up with Judge Jesse Furman for the 2026-27 term at the Southern District of New York.
A Chicago native, Gorman earned her bachelor’s degree in government and history from the College of William & Mary before coming to UVA Law.
She shared her experiences and offered tips for success.
Q. What are some of your secrets to academic success?
A. I don’t know if I have any great secrets to academic success, but I can say for sure that having the support of family and friends over the past three years made all the difference and allowed me to dive headfirst into the classes and opportunities I found exciting each semester. My support system provided a constant reminder that there is life outside of law school, which in turn helped take some of the academic pressure off and helped me stay grounded in the reasons I wanted to pursue law in the first place.
Q. What advice do you have for students?
A. More than anything else, I think finding balance in a way that works for you, whatever that may look like week-to-week and month-to-month, is the best gift you can give yourself. Life does not get put on hold for the three years of law school, and nobody benefits from making themselves miserable in an all-out sprint. As challenging – and messy – as it can be, finding ways to give yourself grace and maintain a big portion of your life that has nothing to do with how you perform goes such a long way.
On the practical side of things, I often found that law school could feel a bit like drinking from a firehose, so I looked for guidance on how to prioritize my focus in any given moment. In the classroom, that usually looked like talking to my professors to figure out what they hoped students would take away from the semester and tailoring my approach to exams and papers accordingly.
Gorman is a clerk for Chief Judge David Barron at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston. (Photo by Julia Davis, UVA School of Law)
But it also looked like waiting to start studying until we had covered enough material to get a sense of what each course was about – which had the added bonus of leaving some time at the start of each semester to rest and relax before kicking into high gear.
In a similar vein, I also found that one of the easiest ways to alleviate stress for myself was to sort out my long-term goals and strategize toward those things instead of trying to keep every door open at all times, which freed up energy to work toward the things I wanted to explore further.
Q. What was your most rewarding experience at UVA Law?
A. Without a doubt, the relationships that I built here. Between friends and professors who provided sounding boards for all things career, school and personal, I could not ask to have been a part of a better community.
