Finding Her Voice in Legal Writing: A Q&A with Ava Pérez Erickson '18

A Conversation with Ava Pérez Erickson '18

Education: BS in biomedical sciences, magna cum laude, Liberty University, 2021; JD, Liberty University School of Law, 2026, salutatorian, magna cum laude

Field: Law, with interests in legal research and writing at the intersection of law, science, technology, and bioethics

Role: Incoming judicial clerk for the 25th Judicial Circuit Court of Virginia, 2026–27 term

Tell us a little about your choice to enter the legal field. Why did you choose this path?

The start of my legal career and my entry into law school were largely untraditional. In truth, I had never even thought about going to law school and becoming a lawyer; instead, I had always said that I was going to be a medical doctor. With that goal in mind, I completed an undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences, began working for a hospital as a medical scribe, and even took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). However, despite all of this preparation, I felt deeply disillusioned with the idea of becoming a doctor, and God told me that my calling was not to be a medical doctor. Rather, it was to become a juris doctor.

Years before I even contemplated law school, God had already begun planting the seeds of this career path for me. During my last semester in college, I took an elective somewhat outside of my degree plan called “Forensic Science.” In truth, I took this because it was a science class without a lab attached to it—but the Lord clearly had other plans. The professor of this class was a doctor of forensics and participated frequently as an expert witness in trials across the country. As part of his course, he coupled with an Advanced Trial professor at the law school in order to provide the law school with “expert” witnesses for a science-heavy final trial that a select few third-year law students elected to take. What this required of me was my full participation in a two-day trial, where I was directed, cross-examined, and redirected as an expert witness.

During the course of this trial, as I was being cross-examined by a (real-life) ex-cop in his last year of law school, the law school professor, acting as presiding judge, stopped the trial and announced to everyone that the “young lady” on the stand should be a lawyer. Apparently, my demeanor and maneuvering, despite my being cross-examined very vivaciously, so sorely stood out to him that he had to make such an announcement to the entire room. This occurred two years before I took the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). I know this was God beginning to work in my life before I even knew the plans He had for me. I ended up taking a class with that law school professor in my second year of law school called Bioethics and the Law. I originally wrote the paper that found itself in first place at the 2025 Virginia State Bar Intellectual Property Law Student Writing Competition for this very class. God works in funny ways.

The law school professor, acting as presiding judge, stopped the trial and announced to everyone that the “young lady” on the stand should be a lawyer.

You have a unique take on legal writing. How is what you do a bit “out of the box” in comparison to the standard approach to legal writing?

My greatest joy in law school has been writing and publishing legal commentaries. My time as a law student allowed me to publish several of my own commentaries and to have a hand in executive editing several more.

Oftentimes, the world—and even lawyers themselves—view legal writing as boring, dry, and the antithesis of fun. However, my response to this sentiment is simple: such a sentiment is wrong.

Oftentimes, the world—and even lawyers themselves—view legal writing as boring, dry, and the antithesis of fun. However, my response to this sentiment is simple: such a sentiment is wrong.

My greatest accomplishment in writing has been adding entertainment—and creativity—back to legal writing. Good writing does not have to be boring in order to be clear. In fact, some of the greatest legal writers are known for their sass, their ridiculous rhetoric, and their wit.

I write because there is no greater satisfaction than deeply thinking about some legal precedent and devising a way to change it in a manner that is not only clear to understand but also enticing to read. My unusual background in the sciences, at least compared with most in the legal field, and my passion for writing have allowed me to enter legal practice with a new voice—a voice I know God wants me to use as a budding lawyer.

I write because there is no greater satisfaction than deeply thinking about some legal precedent and devising a way to change it in a manner that is not only clear to understand but also enticing to read.

How did you develop a legal writing style that felt like your own?

One of the greatest pitfalls of legal writing—and most writing in an educational setting—is that it tends to be very formulaic. Formulas can be good, as they teach and identify the necessary elements of what needs to be included in legal writing. However, this formula—particularly with respect to simulated briefs or motions—does not allow me to express myself persuasively, let alone in a voice that feels like my own. This is why I consider myself to be more of a creative writer, as opposed to a traditional legal writer.

Throughout law school, I developed my own legal writing style—nurtured along the way by professors and my boss, Andrew P. Connors, Esq., managing partner at Darkhorse Attorneys—that did not conform to the traditional, formulaic writing style that most law schools push.

Admittedly, at first, nonconformity did not win me top marks, particularly in my first year of law school. However, as I grew more deeply in my understanding of the law and exactly what it meant to truly analyze, my writing began to stand out despite its stylistic nonconformities.

Affirmations of my writing style came later in law school, particularly in my third year, when two of my legal commentaries were published and I won an award for second-best brief at the 16th Billings, Exum & Frye Moot Court Tournament among 42 teams, some of which came from very prestigious T-14 schools.

At first, nonconformity did not win me top marks...Affirmations of my writing style came later in law school.

You tied for first place on the writing portion of the Virginia State Bar exam. What is the primary research question you focused on?

Does the Intellectual Property Clause of the United States Constitution, the governing authority over both copyrights and patents, allow for authorship by artificial intelligence? And if it does not currently allow for anything beyond a natural person, what does that say about modernity’s definition of personhood, and how might a Christian worldview help define what it is to be a person?

What is an MA habit that still matters to you?

Instilled in me from even my earliest days at MA was the importance of hard work and the high level of excellence we should demand of ourselves every day.

Some of my greatest memories at MA include teachers like Carrie Johnson and Kris Sauer always demanding greatness of my writing. I will be the first to admit that my writing in my formative years certainly wasn’t always great, but these teachers laid the foundation of greatness in me.

Mrs. Johnson and Mr. Sauer, with their continued, often relentless demands that we practice essay writing, analysis, and thought-provoking imagery, gave me the vital tools necessary to survive in the legal field, whose very foundation rests on excellent writing.

Mrs. Johnson and Mr. Sauer...gave me the vital tools necessary to survive in the legal field, whose very foundation rests on excellent writing.

Additional congratulations is due to Ava, who will marry her sweetheart Derek in Toledo, Spain this fall!