After battling her own health issues in middle school and high school, Rachel Davis originally wanted to become a doctor. Once she enrolled at UT-Austin and started taking pre-med classes, she realized that while she was still interested in the healthcare field, a career in medicine wouldn’t be a good fit. She grew drawn to the idea of becoming a lawyer.

Rachel knew she wanted to apply to law schools with smaller class sizes. Her high school graduating class was roughly 40 people, and she wanted to get back to that more personal collegial experience. Vanderbilt stood out to her for its smaller class sizes, as well as its recruiting ties to her home state of Texas. “I really liked the idea of getting to know your professors, having more community-based relationships, and not having to struggle to connect with people,” she said.

Law clinics were another priority for Rachel, who describes herself as a hands-on learner. She applied for the lottery as a 2L and was placed in the Immigration Practice Clinic. Through two semesters—the second in the Advanced Clinic—Rachel was able to get real-life experience while receiving guidance from Clinic Director Professor Alvaro A. Manrique Barrenechea.

“My partner and I would conduct an interview with a client or third party, and then after each interview we would go back to Alvaro and say, ‘You know what we had planned to do, and this is what happened.’ From there, we’d work to figure out how to help the client with the information we had,” she explained.

Rachel enjoyed the clinics so much that she’s currently working at another one: the Woodbine Immigration Intake Clinic. She applied for this pro bono, non-credit-bearing program through the Public Interest Office.

Besides the clinics, Rachel has also been deeply involved on campus as well. She’s currently the Senior Symposium Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology (JETLaw) and a research assistant for Professor Edward J. Cheng. She has served as vice president of Opening Statement, an organization for first generation lawyers, and the secretary of the Health Law Society.

She also served as a student ambassador for two years, connecting with future students and alumni. “I think that’s a rewarding way to give back to incoming students, having had such a great process looking at schools myself and being able to connect to people. That was something that I knew that I wanted to be involved in,” she said.

Rachel was equally focused and proactive when it came to recruiting for career opportunities, driven by her desire to return to Texas. After learning about the law firm Bracewell through a family friend, she applied for and accepted an internship there for her 1L summer. She decided the following fall that she wanted to spend her 2L summer at a firm that offered a healthcare practice group, so she went through the recruitment process again and accepted a summer associate offer from Reed Smith in Houston.

After a “very, very positive” summer at Reed Smith, Rachel received a job offer from the firm —but she’ll be taking a temporary detour before starting full-time. She earned a clerkship position with the Hon. James C. Mahan, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada. After clerking for the judge for one year, Rachel will return to Reed Smith to start working full-time as a New Associate before eventually choosing a practice group.

While she is still interested in healthcare law, Rachel is also excited to explore the many opportunities offered to New Associates at Reed Smith. When it comes to figuring out potential careers, Rachel encourages other aspiring law students to take a similar approach and accrue as much hands-on experience as possible before making a final decision.

“It’s easy to apply for a certain group type of job just because that’s what everyone else is doing, but use this time in law school to really figure out who you are and what motivates you. Because law is so hard, but it’s so rewarding, so it is valuable to take that time to reflect before making a decision,” she said.