{"id":8316,"date":"2024-05-03T09:51:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=8316"},"modified":"2024-05-03T09:51:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:51:07","slug":"class-of-24-law-grad-continues-family-legacy-after-a-detour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2024\/05\/03\/class-of-24-law-grad-continues-family-legacy-after-a-detour\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of ’24: Law grad continues family legacy \u2014 after a detour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KevinEach year, University of Detroit Mercy\u2019s Marketing & Communications department profiles members of the graduating classes. Students chosen were nominated by staff and faculty for their contributions to the life of the University.\u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0for more information about 2024 commencement exercises.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Being a lawyer is in Kevin Lynch\u2019s blood.<\/p>\n

His father, mother, a pair of uncles, an aunt and grandfather have all worked as attorneys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere actually was sort of this built-in path of going to law school,\u201d Lynch said. I knew that I had a lot of family members who had done well at it. But I never wanted to choose it just for that reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was going to do it, I wanted to have my own reason to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reason was Lynch\u2019s favorite part of his previous career: working with attorneys.<\/p>\n

He spent nearly a decade in human resources and worked with outside counsel in his role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought that was neat,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cThey were leading the show, and I was more in an assisting role in HR. I liked their job and I thought, \u2018I want to do that job.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I ultimately made the decision to go to law school on that basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KevinThree years later, Lynch will graduate from University of Detroit Mercy\u2019s School of Law on May 10. He is set to join Butzel Long in September as an associate in the firm\u2019s labor and employment group.<\/p>\n

Lynch chose Detroit Mercy Law for a variety of reasons. He wanted to work in the Detroit area and remain in southeast Michigan, where his family is located. His father, Terrance Lynch \u201983, is a Detroit Mercy Law graduate, and he enjoyed the friendly atmosphere from the campus community during a tour.<\/p>\n

Having lots of family connections to law was helpful when Lynch made the leap to attend law school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it gave me confidence that this was a good decision, sort of a tried-and-true one for my family,\u201d he said. \u201cThey just had all kinds of advice. I think that\u2019s part of what led me to Detroit Mercy, because I knew my dad had a great career, and he did it through going to Detroit Mercy. I wouldn\u2019t have known that reputation but for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch dedicated his Detroit Mercy Law experience to Law Review, where he served as editor-in-chief the past academic year. He oversaw Law Review\u2019s annual symposium and had an article published in its winter 2024 issue. The article,\u00a0Beyond Right-to-Work\u2019s Repeal: Examining Other Reforms to Michigan Labor Law<\/em>, had ties to his days in human resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw Review was my life for the last couple years, and that was deliberate,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cI didn\u2019t take on anything additional outside of that, just because it\u2019s a huge commitment. It\u2019s humbling how much work is involved with it and you really need to give it your full dedication, I think, to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch\u2019s career in human resources consistently intertwined with law.<\/p>\n

His first job in the field was at a small employment law firm that did human resources consulting with companies. In that role, he investigated employment disputes.<\/p>\n

From there, Lynch took a job in the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation\u2019s (SMART) human resources department as a labor and employment specialist, where he worked with attorneys.<\/p>\n

Those interactions piqued his interest, and around two years before starting law school, Lynch said he started thinking about making a move: Go all-in on human resources or study law?<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up taking a transfer within the company to another area of HR, recruiting, and I didn\u2019t like it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe idea in taking the role was to explore another area of HR, and it wasn\u2019t for me. It wasn\u2019t meaty enough for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important getting good people in your company, but after a while, it became pretty routine for me. I like big, complex puzzles, I don\u2019t want to just keep repeating the same thing week in and week out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going to law school after already being established in a career was crucial for his success, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed it. I did not have the discipline coming out of undergrad to be successful in law school,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough. Going to law school is the hardest thing I ever did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch worked for Butzel Long as a summer associate last year and is happy to be returning to start his career. Working in the firm\u2019s labor and employment group is a full circle moment, he said, after so many years in human resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually worked with one of the guys at Butzel when I was in SMART,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to be his client; now, I\u2019m his coworker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch feels properly equipped for his next journey as a lawyer. He appreciates the breadth of his law education and enjoys the direct experience he gained at Detroit Mercy Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite moments at Detroit Mercy have been hands-on and clinics,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got to do mock trials and try out doing different oral arguments. I was in the Federal Pro Se Clinic, so I got to work with real clients, actually doing some employment law stuff. It wasn\u2019t just that I got to work with clients, but it\u2019s also in the field I\u2019m going into. I got some really good opportunities to do some lawyering.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond that, the reason I came here is also turning out to be true: It\u2019s set me up for success in Detroit and in Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Lynch, his Detroit Mercy Law experience and all that has come from it has been beyond his wildest dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see it coming,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cI knew I was going to try my hardest to get as much as I could out of this. I\u2019m just so grateful for how it turned out. Really, I just feel lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year, University of Detroit Mercy\u2019s Marketing & Communications department profiles members of the graduating classes. Students chosen were nominated by staff and faculty for their contributions to the life of the University.\u00a0Click here\u00a0for more information about 2024 commencement exercises. Being a lawyer is in Kevin Lynch\u2019s blood. His father, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":8318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[29,8],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2024\/05\/lynch_court_side.jpeg?fit=400%2C507&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-2a8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8319,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8316\/revisions\/8319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}