J.D. Student Profile

Michael Kamer Student Story

Michael Kamer

JD 2024

Incoming Corporate Associate,
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

After earning his degree in Commerce at the University of Virginia, where he received the award for the graduating student with the most outstanding potential for contribution to the accounting profession, Michael Kamer spent three years working at PwC in New York. “I was a consultant on large transactions and interacted frequently with lawyers at large firms. I thought the work they were doing was more interesting than what I was doing and decided to earn a J.D.,” he said.

A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Michael wanted a law school with small class sizes in a livable city near his hometown that offered a strong corporate and securities law program and had a demonstrated track record of placing graduates in Big Law. Vanderbilt’s well-regarded Law and Business Program, Nashville location, and solid track record of placing students in the Texas offices of Big Law firms made the school his top choice.

“After three years in the Northeast, I was ready to be back in the South, and Vanderbilt embodied all of the factors I was looking for in a law school,” he said.

Michael’s background in business and accounting meant that his exposure to other areas of law started in his 1L year. “I had previously only worked with transactional lawyers, and I learned a ton about the scope of legal practice, especially my Criminal Law class. Having that exposure early on, as a first-semester 1L, was great in helping me consider areas of law I wanted to explore in law school, even if I didn’t ultimately want to practice in that area,” he said.

He believes that Vanderbilt’s small size offers students a big advantage. “I attended a large public university for my undergraduate degree, and the small section sizes made all the difference at Vanderbilt. Every one of my professors knew my name, and I got to know many of them outside the classroom. That fostered a dynamic environment where we as students felt comfortable expressing our views in class while being challenged by our professors,” he said.

His favorite classes were Civil Procedure, taught by Professor Ingrid Brunk; Regulatory State, taught by Professor Lisa Bressman; Corporations and Business Entities, taught by Amanda Rose; and Intellectual Property Survey, taught by Joseph Fishman. “They all approached teaching differently, and I thoroughly enjoyed having all of them as professors,” he said.

Michael particularly enjoyed working on the Environmental Law & Policy Review, an annual compendium of the best scholarly journal articles published in the prior year, selected and condensed by the student editorial staff and presented to environmental policymakers at a symposium. “I love being part of a small journal focused on policymakers and talking about interesting topics in environmental and energy law. I’m interested in working in policy in the future, and being part of ELPAR has been great in seeing how to turn abstract ideas into concrete policy proposals for a broad legal audience,” he said.

In his fall 3L semester, Michael worked as a legal extern for the Federal Trade Commission, a position he landed with the help of Rachel Kohler, a Career Services counselor who helps students connect with government employers. “Rachel was a rockstar and helped me update my resume to the federal format, brainstorm agencies to apply to, and reviewed my cover letters,” he said. “Career Services has helped me beginning in my first semester, when I started looking for summer associate positions in Texas. They coached me for interviews, helped me weigh offers, and provided in-depth knowledge about Big Law.”

Michael joined the Law and Business Society, and serving on the board helped him connect with other students planning careers in corporate finance law. “During the recruiting process, the Law and Business Society was a significant resource because of the events I had access to that allowed me to network with law firms,” he said.

Michael worked as a summer associate at Wilson Sonsini in Austin in summer 2023 and plans to join the firm after graduation. He looks forward to working with technology startups and companies. “I’ll do everything from emerging company venture capital work to M&A,” he said. “I had worked with transactional lawyers previously and had a sense of what they did, and my mentors at Vanderbilt really reaffirmed for me that transactional law was likely the best path for me.”

Michael is an avid runner and chose a neighborhood near the law school and a local greenway running trail. “Find an activity outside of law school that makes you happy and doesn’t require anyone else’s validation,” he advises. “Having an activity that brings you happiness and makes you feel accomplished regardless of your grades can go a long way in getting you through tough times.”