September 08, 2020
Student Spends Summer Firefighting and Clerking
Jacqueline O’Keefe (3L), shared with us her experience as a firefighter, and clerking this summer for a federal judge:
Open gallery
<picture class="lw_image"> <source type="image/webp" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/71/width/500/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/500/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/500/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 3x"/> <source type="image/webp" media="(max-width: 800px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/71/width/800/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/800/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/800/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 3x"/> <source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 801px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.webp 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/71/width/500/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/500/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/500/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 800px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/71/width/800/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/800/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/800/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 801px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 3x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg" width="1000" height="750" alt="Jacqueline O'Keefe firefighter" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/71/width/1000/85034_OKeefe_firefighting_2020.rev.1598978521.jpg 3x" data-max-w="3200" data-max-h="2400"/></picture>
Jacqueline O’Keefe (3L), shared with us her experience as a firefighter, and clerking this summer for a federal judge:
“The 2020 season was my sixth season fighting fire. I started in 2014 on a contract fire engine company owned by my friend’s dad. Contract fire engines and crews get called by the state, tribal, or federal government when there are not enough government resources to respond to a fire. It took some getting used to. On my first fire, of the 25 person ‘strike team’, I was the youngest, least experienced, and the only woman. You also generally work 16-hour shifts for two weeks straight then get two days off and go right back out.
Fighting fire has made my environmental education (in college environmental science, and now environmental law) feel grounded in something tangible. It can be completely heartbreaking, the toll it takes on both the land and animals, as well as the people around it, but I’m also often struck by how powerful a tool “good” fire can be and how so much of the West’s ecosystem is adapted to it.
This summer, I spent 12 weeks clerking for Judge Ann Aiken, who is a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Oregon. I had a great experience and was able to help draft and finalize two opinions, a pre-hearing memo, and telephonically attend hearings. Judge Aiken and her law clerk expected high quality work and dedication—qualities that I believe fighting fire helped to teach me.”
Read the full story here.
Law Communications is located in room 304 of Legal Research Center (LRC) on the law Campus.
MSC: 51
email jasbury@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-6605
Cell: 626-676-7923
Assistant Dean,
Communications and External Relations, Law School
Judy Asbury
Law Communications
Lewis & Clark Law School
10101 S. Terwilliger Boulevard MSC 51
Portland OR 97219