When 16-year-old Junior Ambeau moved to the U.S. from Haiti with his mother and siblings to join his father in Fort Myers, Florida, he made an eye-opening discovery. Ambeau’s father has spent years working extremely long hours at both full- and part-time jobs to support his large, extended family in Haiti. “He worked really hard because all of us were depending on him,” Ambeau said.
Ambeau resolved to honor his father’s hard work and support for him by applying the same work ethic to his education and future career. His work in political campaigns—including the 2008 general election, during which he traveled all over Florida as a deputy field organizer—confirmed his interest in a career that involved government and policy. Ambeau chose to major in political science, knowing he would need to pursue a law degree to achieve his career ambitions. “I realized that if I really want to be involved in shaping policy, I needed to go to law school,” he said. “Lawyers are involved in virtually every major decision, be it local or national.”
After earning his undergraduate degree in 2010, Ambeau spent a year in Fort Myers working for the Hertz Corporation while preparing to take the LSAT and applying to law schools. He applied to Vanderbilt because of its size and reputation—and because he liked what he read and heard about VLS. “The University of Florida is really big, and I enjoyed that as an undergraduate,” he said. “But I wanted a small-school experience in law school. I was working full-time and couldn’t visit schools, so I did a lot of research online. I really liked an interview with Dean Guthrie I read on toplawschools.com, and I found many positive comments about Vanderbilt’s Career Services office.”
Although Ambeau didn’t know anyone in Nashville, he met a number of Nashville natives while working at Hertz, all of whom praised their hometown and encouraged him to consider Vanderbilt. Although he was extremely pleased when offered a Dean’s Scholarship, he had already decided to choose Vanderbilt.
“The more I read about Vanderbilt, the more I wanted to go here because of the intimate experience,” he said. “There are three first-year sections, and mine had 65 people. You have more time with professors, and you get more of the full value.”
Ambeau joined the Black Law Students Association and the International Law Society and enjoyed taking a clinical course during his third year of law school.
“In law school, you can’t read something once and think you grasp the full meaning,” he said. “It’s like an onion—you have to keep peeling away the layers and looking a little deeper. Law school makes you a better thinker—you take analysis to a different level.”
He joined Carlton Fields as an associate based in Tampa, Florida, after earning his J.D. in 2014.