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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nUNC School of Law provides the foundation for students and graduates to pursue a wide range of paths. This is clearly shown by the recent experiences of Kyle Hurysz, Kristina Smith and Dan Sullivan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kyle Hurysz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The challenges that Hurysz \u201927 has faced as a result of his cerebral palsy diagnosis have informed his scholastic and career paths. \u201cWhen my friends were playing basketball, I was reading books,\u201d Hurysz said. \u201cThat steered me toward an academic path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that a large part of practicing law is overcoming challenges, which he has done throughout his life. \u201cI think that\u2019s helped prepare me for thinking outside the box, which is required in this profession,\u201d said Hurysz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hurysz has excelled at Carolina Law where he serves as editor-in-chief of the North Carolina Law Review, the School\u2019s flagship journal. He joined the North Carolina Law Review in his first year, after participating in the Joint Journal Competition. In his current role, Hurysz selects articles for publication, coordinates assignments among the journal\u2019s teams and works with University officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This summer, he worked as a summer associate in the Houston office of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. After three months focused on transactional work, including corporate mergers and acquisitions, Hurysz knows that he wants to do this type of work after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the things he appreciates about Carolina Law are the community and the Career Development Office. He is grateful for how the School connects scholars with opportunities such as summer experiences, clinic programs and externships. \u201cWe have an incredible community at Carolina Law,\u201d said Hurysz. \u201cEveryone here is so supportive, and I\u2019ve made so many great friends. I think that\u2019s a credit to the institution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He sings the praises of the Career Development Office. \u201cThey make sure everybody at Carolina Law ensures our students are prepared to do whatever they want to do, whether it\u2019s working at a big law firm, in public interest or a judge\u2019s chambers,\u201d said Hurysz. \u201cWhatever they want to do, they\u2019re going to be prepared to do it at a high level from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kristina Smith<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When Kristina Smith \u201926 graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this past May, it was with both a law degree and a master’s in social work. She said she was drawn to this path because \u201clawyers have the opportunity to change the legal system, making it more accessible and easier to navigate, while social workers provide individualized support to people as they face challenges that can further complicate their legal needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is now putting her combined skills and training to use in a two-year civil rights fellowship with national civil rights law firm Relman Colfax, a leader in fair housing litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith\u2019s commitment to housing justice was solidified during the three years she worked at the Community Empowerment Fund in Chapel Hill after completing her undergraduate studies at Duke University. Working directly with people who were often unhoused or housing insecure, Smith came to believe that housing is a human rights issue. \u201cHousing is one of the most significant factors impacting individuals\u2019 financial stability, influencing many facets of their lives, including their access to medical care and schooling for their children,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming from a direct services background, she sees housing as a multifaceted issue that needs to be thought of holistically. \u201cRelman Colfax is doing exactly that, which is why I’m excited to grow and deepen my skills as a civil rights litigator there,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith credits Carolina Law for helping her earn the fellowship. In her third year, she worked on a foreclosure scam case in the Civil Legal Assistance Clinic. \u201cI was doing research, writing a brief for the court and preparing to orally defend the brief, which coincided with when I was interviewing for the fellowship,\u201d said Smith. \u201cIt was great to be able to talk about the skills that I was actively building.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Extracurricular activities \u2014 including as an editor of the North Carolina Banking Institute Journal and a member of the Holderness Moot Court team \u2014 honed Smith\u2019s research and writing skills. She describes her classmates as smart and motivated people who want each other to succeed. \u201cMy friends have been a massive part of my success at Carolina,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is grateful for faculty mentors, particularly Professor Kate Elengold who has helped Smith \u201cfigure out the attorney that I want to be\u201d and Professors Richard Saver and Carrie Floyd whom, she says, \u201cinvested in me and wanted me to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Smith, success means that her clients\u2019 lives are better. \u201cI hope that the clients I work with feel that I showed up for them and treated them with dignity,\u201d she said. \u201cI want my work to mean that more people can find housing without discrimination and live safely and affordably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan Sullivan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Dan Sullivan \u201826 expected law school to be a cutthroat environment. Instead, he found a sense of camaraderie from his first day at Carolina Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he learned that Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson \u201969, circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, wanted him to interview for a clerkship, he shared the news with a close circle of friends. \u201cI was so blown away by how supportive my friends were of me,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cThey thought my success was their success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That interview resulted in Sullivan receiving a one-year clerkship which began in August. He said that a substantive component of the interview involved talking about the law and being prepared to opine on legal questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt Carolina Law, there were a lot of opportunities to talk normally about the legal issues of the day,\u201d said Sullivan. For example, he studied for his exams with friends, working as a team to better understand and get into the nuances of the law. But those opportunities were not just limited to the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another example he cites is the trip he and seven classmates in Professor Eric Muller\u2019s \u201cLawyers in Justice and Lawyers\u2019 Injustice\u201d seminar took to Heart Mountain in Wyoming, where World War II era attorneys implemented and defended the unjust imprisonment of Japanese Americans. \u201cWe were able to step outside of an exam-focused context and explore the legal and ethical implications of the lawyers\u2019 work on internment and what it means to be a lawyer more generally,\u201d said Sullivan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t the first time Sullivan has worked in a court system. He was a judicial intern with the tribal courts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians during the summer between his first and second years of law school. \u201cThe internship made clear to me that if I had the opportunity to be back in a judge’s chambers, it would be a dream come true,\u201d said Sullivan. He is excited to be back in the courthouse, alongside a fellow Carolina Law alum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sullivan\u2019s tribal court internship sparked an interest in federal Indian law, which he explored in an article published in March in the North Carolina Law Review, where Sullivan served as comments editor. Another extracurricular activity, Holderness Moot Court, helped him hone his communication skills and become a persuasive advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He appreciates that the University is a public institution with generous scholarships and much lower tuition and fees than peer universities. \u201cThe School attracts a wide range of people with different backgrounds,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cI think the lower costs also mean that when people graduate, the diversity of their career paths is much broader than at comparable schools. Carolina Law\u2019s value per dollar is better than any school out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A D.C. Circuit clerkship, a civil rights fellowship and the top seat at the North Carolina Law Review. Kyle Hurysz, Kristina Smith and Dan Sullivan share how Carolina Law prepared them for three very different paths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3491"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3727,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions\/3727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}