www.law.uga.edu

News @ Georgia Law Feb. 2011 Faculty Profile

Name: Kellie Casey Monk
Title: Director of Advocacy
Hometown:  Marietta, Ga.
Law School/graduation year:  University of Georgia School of Law/1990
Other degree(s)/institution(s): A.B. in Criminal Justice/UGA/1987

1. What influenced your decision to go to law school?

• My undergraduate degree/major and my internship in the district attorney's office solidified my decision to go to law school. But I had always thought about it and do not remember wanting to do anything else.

2. What did you do before entering the legal teaching academy?

• I practiced law for 10 years in Atlanta in a general civil trial practice.

3. What made you decide to become the director of advocacy at Georgia Law?

• The position was created in 1999 at the law school. I was involved in the Advocacy Program when I was a law student, and it was the most educational and rewarding part of my education. I considered it my "dream job."

4. What do you enjoy most about your job? What is the most rewarding aspect of being a professor?

• I love working with the students and watching their talents in advocacy grow and develop. I also love the competitive atmosphere of the moot court and mock trial tournaments!

5. What type of influence do you hope to have on your students?

• I hope to help them develop confidence in their advocacy skills, recognize their own style and encourage them to be a trial lawyer.

6. How did you choose your legal specialty when you practiced law?

• I knew I wanted to work in the courtroom. I went to work for a litigation firm and eventually opened my own firm doing only trial work.

7. What did you enjoy most about this area of law?

• Being an advocate for another.

8. What do you consider your greatest academic contribution?

• My experience in trial work and the time I spend with the students. 

9. What is your favorite thing about living in Athens?

• It is a wonderful and beautiful town, and it's a great place to raise my daughter.  Some of my happiest memories of life were here in Athens in the 1980s, and it makes me feel young!

10. What do you enjoy doing in your free time? What are your hobbies?

• I enjoy spending time with my family - especially our five-year-old daughter and our three dogs.  We enjoy going to football and basketball games here in Athens, and our favorite hobby is horseback riding!

11. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in life?

• My five-year-old daughter. 

12. How do you stay up to date on legal issues and trends?

• I stay in touch with former colleagues and students who practice law. I read new decisions decided by the Georgia courts and the United States Supreme Court, and I am always reviewing federal circuit decision splits for ideas for moot court problems!

13. What book/resource do you find yourself referencing the most?

• Mauet's Trial Practice Manual and any and all evidence books written by Professor Ron Carlson.

14. What advice would you give to current law students?

• Go to work for lawyers who will teach you how to practice law. A good mentor is as important as a good education, if not more important. And find out what you enjoy and be happy doing it. Money will never make you happy or fulfilled. 

15. If you could share an afternoon with anyone, with whom would you choose to spend it?

• If I could spend one afternoon with anyone, it would be my mother who recently passed away.