Court In Session as Beavers Aid One Another
Trustee remembers how a BVU Trustee aided his career 30 years ago
Three decades ago, a Buena Vista University senior reached out to an attorney who served on the BVU Board of Trustees. The student sought experience in a law firm that might prepare him for the career he envisioned.
The student, Brad Schroeder ’94, spent January of 1994 (J-term) job-shadowing Warren Mack, who served as President of Fredrikson & Byron, Attorneys at Law, of Minneapolis, Minn. Mack was also Chair of BVU Board of Trustees at the time.
“I was President of the BVU Student Senate as a senior,” Schroeder recalls. “As President, I had the opportunity to sit in on meetings of the Board of Trustees. I met Warren Mack and asked if he had any internships during our January Interim. I was grateful Warren created for me what amounted to a job shadow, allowing me to do some work in the law library. It helped me get a job in the summer of 1995, which followed my first year at the University of Iowa College of Law.”
This spring, a similar request gave Attorney Schroeder, Co-Founder and Partner at Hartung Schroeder Law Firm in Des Moines, the chance to reciprocate.
Enter Nicholas DeAngelo, a 2023 BVU graduate who was in his first year at Drake Law School in Des Moines when he connected with Schroeder and inquired about an opportunity.
“My wife, Emily Nix DeAngelo (2023 BVU graduate) pointed out to me that Brad Schroeder was an Attorney in Des Moines and also a member of the BVU Board of Trustees,” Nick DeAngelo says. “I reached out to Brad simply to ask if he might have any opportunities available for a first-year law student.”
“Hopefully, the experiences we offered help set Nick (DeAngelo) up for formal clerkships in law firms around Des Moines. Having some experience on one’s resume has to help when applying for positions in the future. Secondly, we simply tried to offer Nick experience and allow him to see how what he learned in the BVU classroom applied to real-world situations.”
Trustee Brad Schroeder, a 1994 BVU graduate
Upon receiving the contact from DeAngelo, Schroeder connected and the two visited. One week later, Schroeder offered DeAngelo a position at Hartung Schroeder Law Firm.
“It was a great experience,” DeAngelo says of his summer work with the firm. “I did legal research. They’d present an issue under litigation, and I’d go into our database to see exactly what the law said on that particular matter; how the law was applied in previous cases, and how it might be applied to the case at-hand.”
DeAngelo drafted legal documents, revised documents upon receiving feedback, then submitted those documents in a court of law.
“I found that Brad is a stickler for details, but in a good way,” DeAngelo says. “And that comes with being an attorney. Brad was so willing to teach me a lot about the law.”
Additionally, DeAngelo was afforded the opportunity to sit in on a couple of depositions to observe Schroeder and others as they questioned witnesses and clients.
“Hopefully, the experiences we offered help set Nick up for formal clerkships in law firms around Des Moines,” Schroeder says. “Having some experience on one’s resume has to help when applying for positions in the future. Secondly, we simply tried to offer Nick experience and allow him to see how what he learned in the BVU classroom applied to real-world situations.”
DeAngelo said the work experience built on what he had enjoyed at BVU under Dr. Bradley Best, Professor of Political Science; Paul Allen, Buena Vista County Attorney and Adjunct Faculty; and Dr. Richard Riner, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. It’s also an experience that continued this semester as DeAngelo returned for his second year at the Drake University Law School.
“I was asked to keep working at Hartung Schroeder in the fall semester,” he says. “I’m very happy to have this opportunity.”
Schroeder says he’s grateful to facilitate the continuation of a practical experience he enjoyed 30 years ago. “Beavers helping Beavers,” he concludes.