Kings County Times

San Joaquin College Of Law recently issued the following announcement.

From the small island of Samoa to graduating from San Joaquin College of Law, Rodney Tuisavalalo (JD '21) started his first career in the medical field and transitioned to a second career in law. Learn more about Rodney, including how his military career mentally prepared him for law school, how he navigated school during the pandemic and why a supportive family unit was key for his success.

Tell me about your journey to law school.

I was born and raised in Samoa, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, a tiny island in the South Pacific. I didn't always want to be a lawyer. I've always wanted to be a doctor, and I went to college for Pre-Med and majored in Biology at the University of Hawaii, but circumstances following college changed my career plans mainly because I was activated in the military. Then my wife got pregnant with my firstborn, so I was in the military for four years after college and decided to work to support them. I served eight years, and I was an infantryman initially, but then I became a combat medic in the Army. When I got out in 2005, I started working for a medical device company, and long story short, I became a medical device engineer. From there, I decided to go to law school. 

How did you transition from a medical device engineer to a law student?

Technically, I'm still a consultant for some companies in the Bay Area, but I haven't done major work for about 5 years now because of law school. But I've worked in that field since 2005, and I was one of six engineers that helped develop an artificial cervical disc for the spine. The company, Spinal Kinetics, developed the M-6 for several years, where I was in charge of biomechanical bench testing and cadaver studies. We became the number one seller of this device in Europe, Germany, and Mexico. Then the most prominent medical device company in the world realized they were losing business to our small company from the Bay and brought a lawsuit against us for patent infringement in 2010. Needless to say, they lost because it was a frivolous claim, but during discovery, we had to submit testing data for purposes of the litigation. We worked tirelessly with Patent attorneys from New York, and it was during that time my interest in patent law developed.

How did you hear about SJCL and what made you decide to attend law school here?

I was working in the Bay Area back in 2009 when the economy tanked, and it was tough to get jobs out there at the time. My wife graduated from Santa Clara Law School, and it was tough for her to get a job as well. But there was a job opening in Fresno, and she decided to come out and take that position, so we moved her and the kids out here while I continued to work in the Bay for three or four years, and I would come home on weekends until she was able to settle down at her job. After that was done, I decided to move to Fresno, and I heard about San Joaquin College of Law and did some more research, and it was like I stumbled upon a diamond in the rough. SJCL is a small school, which I like, and the professors were really helpful in helping me achieve my goals.

Tell us about your law school experience at SJCL.

My first year was hectic. I'm an older student and non-traditional as well, so many people who graduate from college and go straight into law school are probably still in school mode when they start. I'd been away from school for about 15 years, so it was a struggle for me to get back into that mode, and I was working part-time as well. There was a lot of reading and work, and time was not a friend to me. During the first year, I thought I could get by with the educational development and workmanship that I had developed all these years and use it to my advantage, but it wasn't like that. There's a methodology to learning, especially the first year, that if someone doesn't adapt to it, they will fail, and I found that out pretty quickly after my first year. So it was a grind and super stressful trying to get through the first year, but what made it great were professors like Dean Atkinson, Professor Alicia Wrest, and Prof. Philip Cherney, who always gave me the time and help I needed to pull through. 

How important is that kind of support from faculty while you're in law school?

I've been a family man all my life, and family is such an important unit to me, and SJCL made it seem like a family away from my family. That kind of support is crucial to anyone in law school. Not only do they provide the educational part of it, but they also add an emotional connection between the students and the faculty where you don't want to let your family down. So, you try your best to make sure they haven't wasted their time trying to teach you something, and you haven't wasted your time as well. So, there's a family correlation between your school family and your at-home family. 

How important is it to have support from your school but also from your home?

I don't think I could've survived law school without my family, especially my parents. I mentioned them in my speech during graduation because they were always there to help me with the kids if my wife was at work or school. Of course, it's really hard to quit law school when your kids are old enough to know what you're doing, and to try to tell them not to quit on anything they do and then turn around and quit law school is something I had in my mind the whole time I was in school. I had to do it for them and show them that I'm going to walk by something that I say. So as much as it was frustrating and stressful at times, I never wanted to quit on them, and they were my motivation to keep going. 

What were some things you learned in the military that you carried over into law school?

What helped me the most was that in the Army, they were only required to give you four hours of sleep every night. So aside from the discipline, I think the main thing I took from the Army was the sleepless nights because I was already used to that, so studying for long hours during law school wasn't a huge change for me. It was a hidden benefit from being in the military.

What was the most challenging thing about law school?

I think the most challenging thing for me, at least as a professional before going to law school, was trying to adapt back to a formal class setting. Because writing in the professional field isn't the same as writing in the legal field. There is a way to write and talk as an attorney, and for me, it was challenging to try to shift from the way I wrote things and problem-solved at work to how I needed to write and problem-solve for law school. The second part of that is the reading, which was always intense and extensive, so there were many long nights staying up and briefing cases. I think those two things were the most challenging for me.

What impact has COVID-19 had on your law school experience?

I guess the pandemic did alter some of the ways that I approached my classes. It wasn't the best time for me because I'm more of a hands-on, face-to-face type of person and having Zoom classes online was a bit challenging. Although the professors did their best to get the material out to us, I didn't have the feel of being a part of the classroom in terms of how it was before COVID. With that said, SJCL managed to do a great job in continuing our learning through Zoom. But here's the other thing, I'm not a big fan of feeling sorry for myself because we all had to adapt to this pandemic, which was serious enough to take so many lives. But if my kids can do the same with their schoolwork, I can do it too. For me, it was a matter of recognizing and adapting to the situation, which my military experience helped with, and then going from there. That was the mentality that I held, and while it was challenging, I had to make it work just like everyone else.

As a dad and law student, how important was it to maintain a healthy work, school and life balance?

I think it's very important to try to find that balance, and it's tough. If you're married, it's tough for both people in the marriage when someone is undergoing something as strenuous as law school. One thing I did to maintain that balance was kept myself in the best shape possible. Even during the pandemic, I tried to run and exercise as much as I could to stay physically fit because I think the physical part of you is intertwined with the mental part of you. So if one lacks, the other will suffer. So, for me, it was trying to keep myself physically able. I went hiking a lot with my family, and if the hikes were too difficult, I would take some of my friends with me. So I think overall, the goal was always to try to be physically fit. Anyone could do that with their family or without, but I think that is very important.

What's something you learned in law school that no one told you about that you would like to pass on to future students?

I'll give one practical piece of advice and one that's more philosophical. The one practical thing that I would advise people is that if your typing skills are deficient, take a typing course because, whether it be your law school exam or taking the Bar, you'll have to type fast. I learned that the hard way because I didn't learn how to type in high school or anything like that, and I didn't need to type fast in my professional career either. So, if you are deficient in typing, take some sort, of course, to help you get better. 

As far as the mental side of things, I would advise people to take some time for themselves. Hang out with your friends and meet other people at the school and hang out because you'll most definitely run into the same people after graduation, so you want to develop these professional relationships at law school because you'll see them after. I know a lot of people who weren't nice to each other in law school that will end up seeing each other after law school, and it doesn't really bode well for either one. So, treat your classmates with respect, and you'll see that come back to you either then or later on during your professional life.

Want to learn more about San Joaquin College of Law, attend a virtual student forum or set up an appointment to discuss your law school future? Contact our Assistant Director of Admissions, Francisco "Javier" Rosas, or our Director of Admissions, Diane Steel, today!

Original source can be found here.