Kathleen Sharkey comes from a family of lawyers—her father, Daniel Sharkey ’95, is a founding partner in Brooks Wilkins Sharkey & Turco in Birmingham, Michigan. “I always knew I would pursue a career in law,” she said.

Her interest in international law started in a high school, when her a visit by her parents to Paris coincided with the November 15 terrorist bombings. “The whole city shut down,” she recalled. “I felt the personal impact of a terrorist attack thousands of miles away, and this spurred my desire to learn how to analyze and solve major domestic and international issues and conflicts.”

At the University of Michigan, Kathleen majored in political science and Spanish. She chose Vanderbilt for law school because of its small class size, strong international law program, collegial culture, and location. “I wanted the experience of living in another state, and Nashville is the perfect size for a city. I also wanted a law school that supported its students and encouraged them to delve into their interests and explore new areas of law. At Vanderbilt, I found a challenging intellectual environment and supportive and friendly classmates and professors,” she said.

Kathleen joined the staff of the Law Review as a 2L, receiving the Law Review Best Mini-Note Award for the piece she wrote in the Write-On Competition. She now serves as a Managing Editor. She also joined the Vanderbilt Legal Academy Scholars Program as a 2L to broaden her exposure to legal scholarship. “Engaging with soon-to-be-published articles, writing my Law Review Note, and listening to paper presentations and job talks as through the Scholars Program spurred me to explore new areas of law,” she said.

As a 1L, Kathleen found herself surprised “by how much I learned and how much information I was able to absorb! After just one year of education, I felt extremely prepared to work in a legal job before my second year,” she said.

“I also discovered how willing Vanderbilt upperclassmen, professors, and graduates were to support 1Ls when it came to exam strategies, class suggestions, and career advice.”

For Kathleen, small classes meant a more intensive learning experience. “The classroom experience at Vanderbilt is truly unparalleled. Faculty members employ many different teaching styles. Professor [Ingrid] Brunk asked almost every member of our class a question every Civil Procedure class. Professor [Mike] Newton’s teaching approach is more conversational and lecture-based. Many professors use cold calls that help develop your speaking skills,” she said.

All 1Ls choose an elective in the spring of their 1L year, and Kathleen found her class in International Humanitarian Law useful in her summer internship with Global Rights Compliance, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization based in The Hague, Netherlands, that addresses conflict-related accountability and human rights, where she worked in their Accountability for Mass Starvation Project.

As president of Phi Delta Phi, the academic honor society, Kathleen and other members host events to help 1Ls learn to take effective notes, create useful outlines, and prepare for exams. She also connected with students and alumni by joining the Vanderbilt Ambassadors, a student group that supports the law school’s admissions and alumni relations programs. She served as the Obiter Dictum editor for the Class of 2026 Edition, a student-edited guide that’s updated and sent to admitted students each year.

“I chose to compete in Mock Trial and Moot Court to practice oral advocacy skills early on during law school, and those experiences helped me discover my passion for litigation,” she said.

After graduation, Kathleen will serve as a law clerk for Judge Kenneth F. Ripple on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the 2024-25 term and then join Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in Washington, D.C., as a litigation associate. “I worked with Career Services to secure my position after my second year of law school as a Summer Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. My counselor worked with me to prepare my resume and cover letters, choose positions to apply to, and improve my interview skills. Professors wrote letters of recommendation that were crucial in enabling me to secure a clerkship, and Professors Brunk and Rose mentored me during the clerkship application process,” she said.

Kathleen urges students to come to law school with an open mind. “My career aspirations have definitely changed during my time at law school,” she explained. “I came to law school interested in international law, and that primary interest remains the same, but my classes in Law and Business and Law and Government broadened my interests and motivated me to apply for a clerkship and to law firms where I could integrate all of these interests into my work.

“You may discover you love learning about an area of law you never before considered in a class, at an event, or by talking to another classmate or professor or speaker. Stay open to those experiences!”