Student Spotlight: Tony Bellino '09
Coming from an urban undergraduate environment in New Haven, Connecticut, I was not sure what to expect when I arrived on the pristine Notre Dame campus two years ago. I always heard about the wonderful community at Notre Dame. I quickly found that the people at the Law School make it a special place to study and live.
I have been continually amazed at the willingness of the professors to go out of their way to counsel students outside of the classroom. The past year, Professor Rick Garnett afforded me the opportunity to work as his research assistant. It was a great opportunity to both explore First Amendment religion issues in-depth and develop a relationship with one of the leading scholars in the field. He has also been a source of advice and counsel that moved well beyond our employer-employee relationship. Professor Tom Shaffer formed a close relationship with several of us in his class at the Legal Aid Clinic and taught us moral lessons that one would be hard-pressed to find at other law schools.
The student body is passionate about the study of law but we work to make sure that the rigors of law school don’t hinder our activities outside of the classroom. The Notre Dame campus is an athletic one and that holds true for law students as well. Sports provide for great stress relief after a long day in the library. It also provides for great opportunities to get to know people outside of the classroom. My roommate Paul Pogge won the campus wide Bookstore Basketball Tournament last year and helped lead our law school basketball team to a league championship. Former Major League Baseball prospect Brent Coudron helped energize our flag football team and, along with other classmates Joe Pangrac and Brian Pfanschmidt, led us to the championship game in Notre Dame Stadium. The law school powder-puff football tournament is a great event for the student body. While the team I coached lost in the finals last year, I am excited to get back to school in the fall and work on new ways to use the amazing speed of rising 3L Kate Whelehan to bring our class a championship.
I have also developed close friendships with people at Notre Dame who are not part of the law school. The sense of community on campus fosters an environment that facilitates friendships with undergrads, other graduate students, and young employees of the university.
The Notre Dame legal education also helps to open up numerous doors beyond campus. I had the great opportunity to work for both a judge and a law firm following my first year at Notre Dame. Serving as a judicial intern for an appeals court judge, I was able to closely view the federal appeals process in action. Working at the firm the second half of summer gave me the chance to experience first-hand what it is like working in a large law firm. I enjoyed the experience so much that I am working for that same firm again this summer.
I could not imagine being at another law school because I cannot see myself forging the relationships that I have formed at the Law School anywhere other than Notre Dame.
