Quentin Becker ’16 recently graduated cum laude from the Washington and Lee University School of Law. He was executive editor of the German Law Journal and won the Student Bar Association President Award for services as the president of the Student Bar Association.
Between packing and moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a job with Moore & Van Allen PLLC, the Texas native took time to answer questions about his journey and how it began at Transy. As an undergrad, Becker was a William T. Young Scholar and served as president of several organizations, including the Student Government Association, Students Against Hunger and Homelessness and Student Alumni Ambassadors.
“Transylvania gave me the four best years of my life.”
Quentin Becker ’16
Why did you choose Transy?
One word: Community. Transy spoke to me the moment I stepped on campus. I could feel and see the community, and I knew I wanted to be there and that I belonged. I remember my tour guide knowing every student and professor we passed, and I wanted that same experience.
What was at the heart of your Transy experience?
It was home and it surrounded me with friends and memories that’ll last a lifetime, and faculty and staff that pushed me and supported me. Transy made me believe in the person I was as a first-year and in the person I wanted to become. Transy taught me who I was and helped me to discover my dreams and to create a career and life where I could experience them all.
How did Transy prepare you to succeed in law school and in securing your first job out of law school?
Transy prepared me in every possible way to succeed in law school and beyond: I learned to read critically, to have an inquisitive mind, to write with both passion and conciseness, and, most importantly, to believe in and have confidence in myself.
What was it about the liberal arts background that makes you a better lawyer and citizen?
Before Transy, I had an inner indecisiveness – no inner compass pointing me to what I wanted to study. The liberal arts gave me the chance to explore intellectually and to see the connections and complexities that exist in the space between different ideas and fields of study. Having an inquisitive mind and seeing the sameness in an apparent sea of difference makes you the best problem solver you can be professionally and the most engaged and capable citizen possible.
How did Transy’s focus on writing give you an advantage?
Law school and legal writing challenge everyone, but the writing skills I learned at Transy gave me the best foundation I could have asked for that put me far ahead of the curve with legal writing. At Transy, working one-on-one with professors collaboratively to improve my writing happened all the time, so in law school I was unafraid to approach my professors to seek out advice and critiques so that I could continue to build and expand my writing skills both as a student and future lawyer.
Congratulations on graduating with a job in place. What are you most looking forward to?
I will be working for Moore & Van Allen PLLC in the Financial Services practice group. I am looking forward to learning more from great attorneys at a tremendous firm. My mentors at Transy were huge for me — both then and now. I can’t wait to continue to learn and grow as a person and a professional, thanks to the brilliant and supportive mentors I’ll have at the firm, while also working on complex and fascinating legal matters that will challenge me and push me to work better and harder.
Do you have any long-term goals?
Transy taught me the power of going “all in” and being truly invested in the community you’re in. I just want to plant roots in Charlotte, do the best work I can for my firm, and be the best lawyer I can be. I believe wholeheartedly in immersing myself in the world around me, so I can’t wait to do that at my firm and in the city of Charlotte. As president of Students Against Hunger and Homelessness at Transy, I fell in love with giving back to the community and helping those less fortunate than myself, and I can’t wait to do that again in my spare time in Charlotte.