Student Success Stories
Marcus Flinders
Presenting at Columbia University on a paper he co-wrote addressing child soldiers in West Africa is only the beginning of Marcus Flinders’s ’07 future law career. But Flinders, who studied philosophy at UVU, never saw it coming.
After serving a two-year mission for the LDS Church in West Africa, where he became familiar with the culture, and getting married, Flinders decided to quit his full-time job in sales to earn his undergraduate at UVU. It was not until his junior year in the philosophy program that he decided pursuing a postgraduate degree in law would be in his best interest.
UVU professors Chris Weigel and Michael Minch helped Flinders find his niche, inspiring him to enjoy the critical thinking and reasoning aspects of philosophy, particularly in relation to the concepts of individuality, reality, the mind and feminist theory, leading Flinders to law. “Minch was particularly inspiring to me in regards to personal ethics as well as religious, social and political concepts,” Flinders said.
After graduating from UVU and applying to law schools across the country, Flinders was accepted to several in big cities, but chose to attend Valparaiso University School of Law for their ethics-focused program, the professors’ open-door policy and favorable student-professor ratios.
Now at Valparaiso, he is focusing on corporate transactional law and tax. He was elected as the Vice President of the Black Law Students Association and is a member of the International Moot Court Team. He is also a research assistant for a professor on a project being done for the Indiana Supreme Court.
Flinders said he is open to working in many markets after he receives his Juris Doctorate in 2010. “We would like to come back to Utah if possible, but we chose Valparaiso because it is close to Chicago and I would like to work in a big city.”
Flinders currently resides in Valparaiso, Ind. with his wife and three children.