STUDENT PROFILE
2L Margaret Condit
says she wants to “take
complex legal issues
and make them easier
to understand for
families going through
tough times.”
Y
ou can take the
woman out of
teaching, but you
can’t take the teacher
out of the woman.
Margaret Condit taught
elementary school for four years
and plans to deploy the skills she
developed in the classroom in the
legal setting. Her areas of interest are
education law and estate planning,
both with a focus on helping families.
“I want to take complex legal
issues and make them easier to
understand for families going through
tough times,” says the second-year
student. “Growing up, it’s something I
saw my dad do as a physician. Adults
and children would come to him with
a sports injury, and he’d teach them
what was going on with their bones,
muscles, and tendons. I want to do
the same for families with their estate
plans or special-education issues.”
En route to that goal, Condit
has become a civil procedure tutor,
a Civitas ChildLaw fellow, a staff
member of the
Loyola University
Chicago Law Journal
, and a member
of the Family Law Moot Court team.
And it’s her faith that’s behind all of it.
“My faith is the thing that’s gotten me
through law school,” she says.
Q: Tell us about your
background.
A:
I grew up in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, and graduated in 2009
from the University of Notre Dame.
I switched majors several times
and had summer experiences in
medical research, marketing, and
teaching. Law was always in the
back of my mind, though, so I took
some political science courses and
a business law course.
• Bachelor of arts degree
in Spanish and American
Studies, University of
Notre Dame
• Master’s degree in
education, Loyola
University of Chicago
• Civitas ChildLaw Fellow
•
Loyola University Chicago
Law Journal,
staff
member, Volume 46
• Family Law Moot Court
team member
• Judge William J. Campbell
public interest scholar
• CALI awards for Legal
Writing and Advocacy
• Spring judicial extern,
Illinois Appellate Court
• Fall 2014 judicial
extern, Northern District
of Illinois
• Summer 2014 judicial
extern, Hon. Sara
Ellis, Northern District
of Illinois
• Volunteer intern, Equip
for Equality
• Fifth-grade teacher,
Northside Catholic
Academy, 2009-13
• 2015 summer associate at
Schiff Hardin LLP
After graduation, I decided to
participate in LU-CHOICE, Loyola’s
service teaching program. You teach
in Catholic schools in need, live in the
community, and take classes toward
a master’s degree in education at
night. I began teaching at Chicago’s
Northside Catholic Academy and
in my first year taught Spanish to
students from kindergarten to eighth
grade. For the next three years, I
taught fifth grade.
Q: Why law school?
A:
I always thought about law school
because my grandfather was a very
well-respected Catholic attorney.
But I come from a medical family. In
addition to my father being a doctor, I
have an older brother who’s a dentist
and a younger sister who’s a nurse. I
wasn’t exposed to law school.
In my third and fourth years
of teaching, I was thinking about
becoming a school principal. I met
with various principals and asked
about their day-to-day challenges
and responsibilities. Quite often, they
talked about working with education
lawyers. So law school popped into
my head again. I met with a school-
law attorney, and she talked about
how she really enjoyed her job and
enjoyed having an impact on many
schools at once. She’s also someone
who teaches principals about
complex legal issues. The impact she
had on schools and education really
appealed to me.
Q: What made you choose
Loyola for law school?
A:
I love the “learning by doing
and by serving” approach to
Jesuit education. Loyola also has
an excellent child and family law
program and offers a plethora of
education law classes. I feel very
blessed to be part of this supportive
community filled with amazing
service-minded people.
Q: How are you using your
teaching background in your
legal education?
A:
I think teaching has given me the
communication skills and empathy
I’ll need to work with many different
types of clients. This fall, as an
academic tutor for Civil Procedure, I
found myself using familiar teaching
tools as graphic organizers during
my office hours. Even with my study
group, I suggested we use a teaching
technique I used for fifth grade to
help us teach one another legal
concepts from our courses. I think
everyone enjoyed learning from each
other in an organized way, and it has
paid off for everyone.
Q: What do you do
in your free time?
A:
I mostly spend time with my family
and friends in Chicago and Michigan.
I enjoy road biking, running, skiing,
yoga, playing tennis, and reading. I
also love traveling. I’m planning a big
trip to South America after graduating
and taking the bar.
Q: How about sharing some
fun facts about yourself?
A:
I really struggle at cooking.
Things never seem to turn out right!
I’m also really pathetic when it
comes to eating anything spicy—
maybe my Irish heritage limits me
to pretty bland foods. I love playing
the piano; it’s the thing that relaxes
me the most, my therapy. My
favorite thing? Starting the limbo
at weddings.
■
A teacher finds her
calling in the legal field
Education law appeals to this classroom pro
Fast facts:
Margaret
M. Condit
SPRING 2015
23
22
LOYOLA LAW
