Eastlake Tritons are successful and are making an impact all over the world. Zack Avalon provides some insight into his career in law.
Hi everyone, my name is Zack Avalon and I’m an Eastlake Class of 2003. So, it’s been a while. After I graduated from Eastlake High School, I graduated from UC Irvine, then I taught 5th grade for a year with Teach for America. I then went to law school at Georgetown University Law Center. After graduating, I began working at a law firm where I became a partner. Now I work for the Department of Justice.
I was asked, “What do I do in my day-to-day work life that uses what I learned in social studies?” Let me tell you, pretty much everything that I do uses those social study skills. I’ll just give you an idea for the past 36 hours; a typical day with the Governor of Texas. The Governor, my boss, put out an executive order to the attorney general who thought an issue was unconstitutional. He asked me and my team to pull together a letter, which we drafted, then the attorney general sent it out, within 24 hours a lawsuit was filed.
I did not know anything about the substance or the facts related to the issue in Texas, so I had to learn and read a tremendous amount of information and digest the legal principles related to the situation. We put together a complaint and sued. This is one example. I go to court, talk to judges, I read and have to synthesize a lot of information and understand how, and what happened in the past, and how it should be applied today. That’s pretty much what a lawyer does.
If you have any questions about practicing law, or if you’re interested in being a lawyer, Ms. Hughes was my teacher a very long time ago and she’s got my contact information. I’m happy to talk to you about anything, so hope that helps, take care.”
Thank you, Zack for sharing and we hope to have more alumni to spotlight in the future.