1L Candidate Personal Statements

Jack Rainey Personal Statement for SBA Senate Elections 2023-2024

Hello, my name is John Rainey, but everyone refers to me as “Jack”.  I am from Smithtown, New York which is located on Long Island. A little bit about me is that I come from a family of five, both my parents and two older sisters, plus my dog. For my undergraduate degree I attended SUNY Albany, which is right down the road. I studied business administration with a focus in finance and management. I am also a part of the 3+3 program at SUNY Albany which allowed me to attend Albany Law a year earlier than normal. As of right now I am not too sure what type of law I would like to focus in, so I am keeping an open mind!

I have always been interested in government since I was young and have been looking forward to getting involved with the law school right off the bat. I believe that running to be a representative in the Student Bar Association would be a perfect fit for me. For me, being a leader and someone who people can rely on is one of the most important character traits that a person could have. With my experience including past jobs, school leadership roles, and my education with finance and management, I have learned traits that I would like to offer as a representative of our class. Some of my goals would be to help our class connect with the resources needed to succeed, ensure that our budgeting is fair to all clubs, organizations, and events in order to bring a light of excitement during the stresses of 1L. Additionally, the most important goal is listening. As a representative it is crucial to understand what your peers around you need and want.  With communication, our Student Bar Association board will be able to provide the representation needed to help minimize the stresses of our first year. This is an extremely exciting chapter in our lives, and I am proud to be doing it along with you all!

We are all in this together, so why not help each other grow and succeed.

My name is Lizzie Martin and I am running for the position of 1L Representative as part of Albany Law School’s Student Bar Association. First and foremost, I would like to thank my classmates for the support I received during the initial election and throughout the week leading up to the run-off election. I am very grateful to have made it this far, and it would be my pleasure and honor to serve as your final 1L Representative as part of the Student Bar Association.

I have been a part of Student Government throughout my undergraduate education and have held positions both as a Senate Representative and as a member in various Student Government departments. I have extensive experience authoring and voting on resolutions that concerned Student Government policies and the Student Government Constitution, along with assisting with event planning, promotion, and execution. Working on a team with passionate individuals who want to bring the student body together as I have previously in Student Government is a large reason why I ran for 1L Representative.

While I have this valuable prior experience, my primary purpose in running is to foster a culture of community within the 1L class. If elected, I would want to hold social events not once a semester, but once a month if the budget and schedule permit. What these events would look like is up to you all, as my role as 1L Representative would be to make your ideas happen. The SBA Suggestion Dropbox is a valuable resource in hearing your suggestions, but if elected 1L Representative I want to engage with you primarily through conversation and dialogue. To facilitate this, I would want to hold monthly morning coffee and pastry socials sponsored by the SBA that serve as an opportunity for students to meet the board members and class representatives of the SBA, to share their ideas, and ask us questions.

Hearing your ideas and cultivating community are extremely important and integral components of the 1L Representative position. To further facilitate community and dialogue in the 1L class, I would want to create a Discord server for our class with channels pertaining to each class and section. My colleagues have already created an Instagram group chat and it has been an invaluable tool for meeting and staying connected with each other. A Discord server would allow students who do not use or feel comfortable using social media to be in a virtual group chat with other students, along with having the means to organize information and types of discourse by topic via the channel function. Fellowship and community are important to feeling a sense of belonging, especially as we all begin law school, and as 1L Representative I want to ensure that all my classmates feel supported by one another and especially by the 1L Senate. Frequent social events are also important to me in cultivating community, with some ideas being giveaways leading up to finals that provide students with self-care resources, such as snacks and stress-balls, along with movie nights on the courtyard and expanding volunteering opportunities. Ultimately, what these events are and look like are up to you. If elected 1L representative, I want to hear your thoughts and ideas regarding events that would allow for greater community to form in our class.

In conclusion, my main goal as a 1L Representative is to hear your feedback and ideas to cultivate community. After meeting many of you during orientation and throughout these first few weeks of classes, I know that the Class of 2026 is filled with passionate, driven, and creative individuals. In fact, you’re all the reason why I wanted to run for the position of 1L Representative. I end my statement with a question: What do you want your law school community to look like, and how can I help make your vision a reality?