J. Ashley Ebersole, Class of 2007
Employer: Skadden, Washington, D.C.
Undergraduate:Amherst College
Hometown:Washington, D.C.
After earning his undergraduate degree at Amherst, Ashley Ebersole was looking for a law school with a "small college" atmosphere where faculty was accessible - and he found it at Vanderbilt. "Vanderbilt provides a great atmosphere for studying law," he says. "I thought I'd never find professors more accessible than those I had in undergrad. Here, professors take a genuine interest in students, and the fact that everyone in the law school is in the same building on a daily basis contributes to the intimate environment."
Ashley and teammate Taylor Ford were the 2006 Bass, Berry & Sims Moot Court Competition champions, and during his 3L year, he served on the Moot Court Managing Council. "Competing in the moot court competition was a highlight of law school,” he said. “It's a lot of fun to craft a case strategy with your partner and then argue the case."
A native of Washington, D.C., Ashley returned there to practice law with Skadden, where he spent summer 2006 a summer associate, after clerking for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit during 2008-09 and Judge Walter D. Kelley on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2007-08. “Michael Bressman runs the Clerkship Program, and made the application process simple,” Ashley said. “He is a great source of knowledge about how to approach the applications.”
Ashley notes that many classes offered at Vanderbilt made a valuable impact on his practice. “My course in Federal Courts has proved invaluable for both the clerkships and in my practice,” he said. “Suzanna Sherry is a great teacher and is gracious enough to make herself available even now when I confront a difficult problem. Richard Nagareda's Complex Litigation class was also one whose lessons I use on a daily basis, and his publications are very useful for practitioners. He was a brilliant man and he'll be missed. Administrative Law with Lisa Bressman is a must for people working in D.C. in practices where you deal with administrative agencies much of the time.”
Ashley emphasizes the important role student organizations played in rounding out his legal education. In addition to his involvement in Moot Court, he was president of Vanderbilt's chapter of the Federalist Society and an editor of the student-run Journal of Transnational Law.
He also appreciated the collegial culture at Vanderbilt. "If you come here, you won't be one of the people complaining to their friends and family about the hellish nature of the law school experience," he says. "Professors are always available to answer questions, and your classmates are eager to work and study with you. And the people I got to know in the Nashville legal community have made it a real possibility that I'll return there at some point in my career.” He adds, “plus I met my wife at Vandy; you can’t get more collegial than that!”
“I loved my three years at Vanderbilt,” Ashley said. “It is amazing how dramatically different my experience was from some of my friends’ at other law schools. Vanderbilt is truly unique in that you get a great education and have a lot of fun with good people.”
