Student Spotlight: Katherine Beare ’27
Member and Student Clinician, Social Enterprise and Startup Law Group
Katherine Beare ’27 describes the spark that launched her journey to law school, shares her interest in how business and technology can address social problems, and reveals what kept her and a Corporations classmate talking for two hours in a late-night diner.
How did you decide to pursue law?
My mom often says “da cosa nasce cosa,” an Italian expression meaning that one thing leads to another, which I think most accurately describes my path to law school. When I moved to the United States from Italy at eight years old, I was placed in an ESL program, where I struggled to connect with classmates, and I fell behind academically. The experience left me feeling like school and learning weren’t really for me.
That mindset changed when a friend in high school dragged me to a Speech and Debate meeting, which immediately sparked my interest in law and policy. What started as a single meeting grew into a love of learning and passion for law and eventually led me to spend nearly five years working in the legal departments of technology and financial companies.
Still, deciding to attend law school was tough, given the financial commitment. What ultimately convinced me were the weekly “teach-ins” at my previous job [as a paralegal at Warburg Pincus], where attorneys would share lessons and insights from their practice with the paralegals. During those meetings, I felt the same excitement I’d experienced at my first Speech and Debate meeting years earlier. I decided to chase that spark and applied to law school.
You’re a 3L this year—what’s your advice for students in their first semester of law school?
Don’t dwell on your mistakes for too long, and keep trying. It’s probably an understatement to say that law school can be humbling at times. During 1L, I had one particular week when it felt like I was taking one loss after another—in hindsight, it was probably more like a couple of weeks…or months. I told one of my sectionmates how I was feeling, and they wisely reminded me that nobody bats a thousand. I won’t pretend to understand baseball, but the sentiment stuck with me. Mistakes and rejection are how you learn and build resilience, so keep at it.
Tell us about your involvement with the Social Enterprise and Startup Law Group (SE-SL).
The SE-SL was one of the organizations I was most excited to join as a 1L. As an undergraduate, I majored in international studies and political science and minored in business and computer information technology. Studying these fields made me curious about how business and technology can be used to address social challenges, which aligns closely with SE-SL’s mission.
During my 2L year, I was fortunate enough to participate in the group’s annual trip to Tokyo, where we met with law firms and other organizations. One highlight was visiting the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and meeting with the director general of its New Energy and Power Finance Department. That visit introduced me to renewable energy financing, an area I knew little about at the time but later had the chance to explore during my summer associate experience.
SE-SL exposes students to different ways they can use their law degrees to make an impact, while also connecting them with peers who share similar goals but bring diverse and impressive backgrounds. You end up learning just as much from one another as you do from the practitioners you meet.
Which Law School class or experience has had the biggest impact on you?
During 1L orientation, Dean Troy McKenzie ’00 [Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law] joked that we’d eventually find ourselves having heated discussions about res ipsa loquitur outside Vanderbilt Hall. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “Yeah…I don’t know about that.”
However, eight months later I found myself sitting in a late-night diner with a classmate from Corporations, deep in debate about the duty of care framework. By the time we asked for the check, we realized we’d been there for over two hours, simply because we were having a good time. The conversation topic wasn’t res ipsa loquitur, and the setting was fluorescent light and the smell of onion rings instead of the picturesque magnolia blossoms outside Vanderbilt. But in that moment, I finally understood what Dean McKenzie had meant. I guess this is my formal apology for doubting him.
In general, though, it’s hard to point to any one class or experience that’s had the biggest impact on me. I may not remember every case that’s been taught, but I leave each semester inspired by my professors. Each has modeled qualities that shape the kind of legal professional I want to become. I hope to carry [Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law] Franco Ferrari’s passion, [George T. Lowy Professor of Law] Marcel Kahan’s practical wisdom, and [Charles L. Denison Professor of Law Emeritus and Judicial Fellow] Theodore Meron’s curiosity with me throughout my career. I could say something about every professor I’ve had, which speaks to how fortunate we NYU Law students are to learn from the faculty here.
What do you most like to do outside of class? What’s your favorite way to spend a day in New York City?
One of the reasons I moved to New York City from the West Coast is that I hate driving, so I try to take full advantage of how walkable the city is. One of my favorite weekend traditions with my boyfriend is picking a random coffee shop on Google Maps and then aimlessly exploring the surrounding streets and neighborhoods. I’ll usually bring a deck of cards along, and we’ll find somewhere to play a few games and enjoy being outside when it’s not too cold.
Another one of my favorite things to do is take solo trips to the museum. I enjoy reading the descriptions and looking up things that catch my interest, so going alone lets me explore at my own pace. I’ve done this a few times at both the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. They’re both so massive that it’s hard to run out of things to explore.
I also make a point of calling my parents as often as I can before finals take over. They’ve made so many sacrifices to help me get where I am, so I want to share what I’m learning in class and hear their perspectives. I try to share only the cases with the most drama to keep it fun.
This interview has been condensed and edited.