With Every Step, Gillian Blackwell ’18 Uses Her Liberal Arts Education
By Matt Mandel '19
Gillian Blackwell ’18 is a paralegal at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York City. A recent graduate, Blackwell majored in political science at Kenyon and studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland in the spring of 2017. She now brings her passion for understanding the world around her and her liberal arts background to the world of corporate law.
For the first half of her abroad program, Blackwell attended classes where she learned about the governmental system in the United Kingdom and Scotland. The fall before going abroad, Blackwell took Modern Democracies (PSCI 240) with Professor of Political Science Camerra-Rowe, her advisor.
“It helped a lot when we were taking courses on parliamentary governments and no one else knew what that was. I had just been put through the ringer with Professor Camerra-Rowe and took my final exam, so I could tell everyone exactly what the differences were,” she said.
After about six weeks of classes, Blackwell was then matched with a member of Parliament, Angus MacDonald, where she was the sole staff member in his office. This in-depth internship experience gave her a strong taste of what it is like to work in politics.
“It was a really hands-on internship because I was the only staff member my parliamentary member had. I got to go to all of his meetings with him, I got to greet all of the guests coming in to meet with him,” she said.
Blackwell also completed an independent research project focused on finding a solution to a local problem in her parliament member’s region. She investigated how Brexit would impact the petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, Scotland, because it is one of the main job suppliers in the area and an important part of MacDonald’s district.
The off-campus study program was filled with highly intellectual and ambitious people, many of whom later followed a professional political path to Washington, D.C., Blackwell said. But she found a home in corporate law in New York.
“I’m very happy with corporate law. I initially was going to use a paralegal job as a focus for a few years before getting a masters in international relations, but I switched and will now be studying for the LSAT,” Blackwell explained.
“To most people it doesn’t sound exciting, but you realize that the things that these big corporations are doing influence everything else that happens and how our society runs and works. It was cool to view it on a more political stage and realize that these things do really matter and they impact your individual life whether you know it or not,” she said.
As a paralegal, Blackwell has a wide breadth of responsibilities. She credits Kenyon for her liberal arts education coming in handy once again. “Having to take different sorts of classes, I feel very adaptable and prepared to be able to be thrown into any kind of project, learn how to do it and think on my feet quickly,” Blackwell shared.
“I realized that Kenyon gives you such a good education and really opens you up to a lot of different schools of thought than if you were at a bigger university,” she said.
What advice does this recent graduate have for those at Kenyon now?
For current students looking forward to future jobs or internships, Blackwell recommends reaching out to alumni. Learning about how a Kenyon graduate got from point A to point B is an important resource and allows students to imagine how they might get to the same place.
“That sort of advice is invaluable and Kenyon grads are always willing to chat with you, have a phone call or get a cup of coffee,” Blackwell said.