Kings County Times

San Joaquin College of Law recently issued the following announcement.

From a very young age, SJCL alumnae and Appellate Advocacy/Moot Court Professor Jennifer Oleksa (JD' 16) knew she wanted to be a lawyer. She followed in the footsteps of her mom and aunt, both of whom attended SJCL, and is now a Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the California Attorney General's Office.

Learn more about Jennifer, why she says self-care and maintaining your mental health during law school is essential and how she relearned the importance of a work/life balance after a brain cancer diagnosis.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey to law school.

I first set my sights on law school at five years old. On my first day of kindergarten, which was my mom’s first day of law school, I drew a picture that said, “I want to be a lawyer like my mom when I grow up.” That dream somehow stuck through the years. I was always drawn to criminal law in particular and studied Criminology at Fresno State. I went to law school with criminal law still in mind, and now I practice criminal appellate law.

Did you have an interest in law throughout your childhood?

I think I wavered a couple of times, but it was always kind of related to law. I was really into psychology and sociology and how they tie into criminality. But once I started my Criminology degree at Fresno State, I was like, “yes, I am going to law school, that's it.” I applied the second I could and started the three-year programat SJCL the semester after I graduated, still hell-bent on getting into criminal law.

Why did you choose to attend San Joaquin College of Law?

I grew up in Clovis, and my family is here, so SJCL was the obvious choice for me. It didn’t hurt that my mom (JD ‘99) and aunt (JD ’01) also attended SJCL, and I joke that we have a little family tree on the school walls. I also had very young siblings at the time I was entering law school. Continuing with tradition, my first day of law school was my little brother’s first day of kindergarten.

How was your experience as a law student while you were in school?

I loved it. I never really enjoyed school growing up, but once I got to college, I started to enjoy being a student. That continued throughout my time at SJCL. I felt that the faculty and staff were all so accessible, and it was a very familial atmosphere. That’s why I told the administration at the school, before I even graduated, that I wanted to come back and teach. I just wrapped up my second year of teaching at SJCL and hope to continue doing so for a very long time.

Does it feel like you’re paying it forward for the new crop of students going through law school?

I hope I am. I remember very fondly how accessible the professors were to me when I was there, so I’ve tried my absolute best to do the same for my students. They all have my cell phone number, which hasn’t burned me yet; knock on wood. That's the kind of thing I would’ve appreciated when I was in school, and I’m just much faster at responding to texts than emails. It’s easier for me, and the students seem to appreciate it, and many have reached out via text. So, I think that it is well received, which makes me happy. I really enjoy being there for my students, especially those who are serious about learning and improving, because I love to see them succeed.

Did you learn about any other types of law or have any different experiences in other areas of law through internships?

I was really interested in prosecution when I started law school, and I thought I might like to do an internship at the DA’s office or something similar. There were a couple of classes that I was surprised I really enjoyed, like Wills and Trusts and Community Property. I think that was due to incredible professors. As far as internships go, I secured an internship position in the Criminal Division of the Attorney General's Office between my 2L and 3L years, and I loved it so much that I’ve never left.

What is a day in your life like being a criminal prosecutor?

I work in criminal appeals, so it's a little less sexy than what people typically picture when they think of prosecutors, which is usually more dramatic like Law & Order and other similar shows. About 95% of my job, if not more, is sitting at my desk researching, reading, and writing appellate briefs. I handle appeals from felony convictions from Stanislaus County down to Kern County, and my cases involve anything from assaults and drugs to capital murder and everything in between. When convicted defendants appeal their convictions, their attorneys file a brief against the state that includes arguments alleging errors before, during, or after the trial that they seek to have corrected. Many issues can come up on appeals, such as sentencing errors, evidentiary issues, and constitutional rights. Then I get the record on appeal, which is all the pleadings from before trial and all the reported testimony and on-the-record discussions. I go through the whole record, and then I read the appellant’s brief and respond to it on behalf of the state. So, it’s heavy research, heavy reading, and heavy writing. I know it sounds monotonous, and some cases, it can start to feel that way, but it really stays interesting for the most part. When a case occasionally starts to wear on me, I’m usually ready to wrap it up, file it and move on to the next one. So, it's always a new story to dive into, which keeps it interesting.

How long does it take between cases?

It varies. I’ve had cases that I can wrap up within a few hours in one day, and I’ve had some that I’ve worked on for months. It varies based on the complexity of the issues, how many issues are raised, and how extensive the record is.

How important is networking and making connections while you are in law school?

It’s invaluable. You can put no price on the importance of making connections and networking, particularly if you are in a client-based practice, because the legal community in the Central Valley is very tight-knit, and everyone knows who everyone is. I credit networking and making connections in part for the career I adore, which started as an internship. One of my mom’s friends, who’s a fellow SJCL graduate, was one of my law school professors and recently retired from the Attorney General’soffice doing the same thing that I’m doing. I remember my first year of law school when she talked to me about her job and a case she was working on, and I wanted to know what she did because it was so cool. I already knew her, but I kept in touch and worked hard to better my chances of getting in as an intern. You know how that story ended. So, it's all about who you know and how hard you work. I would never have known about the internship that led to my dream job if not for fostering those connections.

What’s something you learned as a law student that nobody told you?

Even though my mom prepared me for the hard work to come, nobody really told me how intimately you get to know your fellow classmates in a way that does not happen in most other schooling. You spend so much time with these classmates of yours and see them more than you see your family, your significant others, and your friends outside of class. Law school is all-encompassing and all-consuming, including in your personal life. I think that's something that people don’t tell you about, but it makes sense because it's a big challenge and a huge time commitment. Some of my closest friends now are people I met in law school. I feel like I wasn't really made aware of that, and I guess that doesn’t have to do with law school specifically, but it’s really important to have that kind of support of people going through the same thing you’re going through. It’s something that really bonds you with your classmates.

What was your most challenging aspect of law school?

Probably the time commitment, especially my first two years. I did the three-year program, and I also did summer classes my first summer, and a full load of internship credits my second summer. So, until my third year, I was non-stop all the time with no vacations and no breaks. I had to learn to say “no” to a lot of things, which was challenging for me at first. But it’s vital because if you get too far behind, there’s no opportunity to catch back up in law school. It's one of those “sink or swim” situations where you’re immediately immersed, and it's so much more work than you've ever been used to. You can’t see your friends as much, and you can’t go to all the fun family events, you can’t go out of town any time you have a random weekend that there’s not much else going on. You must learn how to say “no.” Unfortunately, it comes at the expense of some friendships and relationships, including romantic relationships, because many people don’t understand the time commitment unless they’ve gone through something similar.

What advice do you have for students whose family, friends, and loved ones don’t understand how time-consuming law school is?

I think that it starts and ends with setting boundaries. Even when you tell your friends and family that you’re starting law school and won’t have that much free time, that doesn’t get the message across. My advice would be to explain it in a way that's like, "Ok; I have 15 free minutes for a phone call on Saturday anytime between 2 and 3 p.m.” or “I have 45 free minutes for a quick coffee. It sounds so ridiculous, but that's how I treated it because many people in my life didn’t understand why I couldn’t just hang out with them when they’d text or call me an hour before everybody’s going to go do something. I was in a book all the time. My advice would be just to explain to loved ones, friends, spouses, significant others, or whomever it may be that it's going to be virtually impossible for you to be spontaneous and that everything needs to fit into your schedule because school has to be the priority. Otherwise, there is just no way to keep up and do well. If you set that boundary early, you don’t have to feel guilty about it later. They’ll know the “rules,” and if they want to schedule some time with you, they’ll need to schedule it ahead of time, and you’ll be able to plan your studying and reading schedule around it.

What advice do you have for maintaining a healthy work/school/life balance?

Despite the need to set boundaries as far as time commitment goes, it’s essential to keep your mental and physical well-being in balance. For a while, especially in the beginning, you’ll have to be deprived of many things compared to before law school, but you shouldn’t have to deprive yourself of everything you love doing. I participated in a couple of the Law School 101events when I was a student. I always told people, “If you have a TV show you just absolutely love or something like that, set aside an hour or whatever it is each night after studying and before bed to watch the show.” You still have to do things for yourself. If you’re big into working out or have other hobbies, you still have to make time for those things, but it must be worked into your schedule. I taught Legal Methodsmy first year as an adjunct at SJCL. We had the students do an Excel spreadsheet of an actual hour-by-hour, day-by-day schedule to help map out when they're going to focus on what classes they’re going to make time for and personal stuff. If there is a really important birthday party or whatever event, it’s okay to do that, but you have to make up those hours somewhere else in the week. So, it’s imperative to schedule everything out.

I recently had a renewed lesson in the importance of maintaining a healthy work/life balance myself when I was diagnosed with brain cancer at the end of 2019. Thankfully, my job allowed me to work from home since November of 2019, long before the pandemic took over. I've learned that there are so many things that go into balancing and being healthy. I balanced work and teaching and treatment for a long time and, while I’m not actively on treatment right now, I still have monthly scans in LA, and that’s always in the background. It’s about balancing for me and figuring out when I have time for yoga, meditation, therapy, and seeing my friends. It's the same pattern from law school repeating itself. It's just different stuff. It’s really important to make time for the things I love to do and that are important to me while also maintaining my full-time work hours and focusing on my physical health. I think that is the same regardless of your station in life. You need to figure out what's important to you and make sure that you’re not abandoning all things that fall under the category of self-care and happiness. When I was diagnosed, they told me that 97% of people with this diagnosis don’t make it to a year, and I’m sitting at over a year and a half right now, feeling great and grateful. I attribute a lot to keeping myself healthy, eating well, treating myself, and staying active. You see a lot of people’s mental and physical health suffer in law school because it’s such a big commitment. I think a lot of people are shocked by how much it can actually take out of you, and that’s why it’s so important to be really focused on mental and physical health. The two are so interrelated and, if one goes, then the other usually goes too. So, as much as you have to spend time on your responsibilities like school and work, you also need to balance that out with taking care of yourself.

How does it feel knowing that your Juris Doctorate Degree has opportunities for you down the road if you want to take another career path?

It’s pretty incredible. It's so foreign to go into a profession where you can specialize in an area, but it’s not required. Doctors have to get matched and do their residency in a particular area, and they can’t just switch from brain surgery to heart surgery. It’s not that the law isn’t specialized, but it’s pretty incredible that you could just one day decide you’re not feeling this anymore and go try something else out. One of my good friends from law school was always interested in employment law and worked in special education before law school, so she wanted to represent kids and families and got a job doing that. She found out that it was not the right fit for her and went to work for the school district. That's how you find out what you like, and it’s pretty amazing that you can switch sides, switch teams, switch areas of law, learn a different area, and start practicing that area because you have this Juris Doctorate.

What advice do you have for any future applicants who are interested in law school?

Excuse my language, but as the great Ron Swanson said in Parks & Recreation, “never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing.” That’s what is required to do well and succeed in law school. You can’t split your attention in too many directions. You really have to commit fully to law school. If you’re spending so much of your time and money to be here, why not take it seriously and kick-ass and not just do it, but do it well? Make the most of the opportunity and remember to whole ass law school.

What is it like to be at the other end of law school as a teacher? What are some parallels and some differences since you’ve been a student?

It’s awesome. One parallel is that I definitely love being in the classroom setting, and I’m sad that we haven’t been on campus for a while. I still love the environment and get to know the people around me and see students get to know each other and form friendships and relationships. I love getting to know my students the same way I loved getting to know my fellow students when I was in law school. The differences are that I don’t have to take any attitude. I’m a little bit sassy, so I’m not afraid to put my students in their place, and it’s really weird being able to do that. I do it from a place of love because I want them to do well, so I will tell them if they’re slacking off. It’s also a very interesting dynamic being close in age to many of my students and younger than some. I think there may be a tendency not to take me seriously because of my age, which has been challenging at times. But I’ve made it my mission to face the challenge and show the students at SJCL that I’m not just some dumb young lady who just showed up and asked to teach law school. I’ve gone through what they’re going through, and it hasn’t been that long since I was in their shoes, so I think I can offer them a perspective that I didn’t really experience as a student at SJCL.

Original source can be found here.

Source: San Joaquin College of Law