Nancy Potter

People may wonder how a young woman from Merritt, Oklahoma, ended up in the Steel City studying law, but Nancy Potter is very certain of her career path.  Born on a cattle ranch, she was greatly influenced by her mother, a teacher, and her father, a small business owner, both of whom always stressed getting a good education as a way of helping others. 

When Nancy was only nine years old and interested in politics, she pored over some of the books on the family’s bookshelves and decided then and there that she wanted to be a lawyer, because, “in order to become a senator, I’d have to be a lawyer first.”  Then, in high school, she became involved in a “teen court” program, learning the ins and outs of serving on a jury and representing clients in juvenile offender sentencing hearings.  She fell in love with the courtroom, and her desire to work in the public interest has never wavered.

It was scholarship assistance, however, that brought Nancy to Pitt Law after she graduated from Oklahoma State University.  Nancy feels very grateful for two scholarships, the Edward A. and Charles S. Perlow Scholarship and the Dean’s Professional Scholarship, which together have helped her defray a large portion of the cost of law school.  She turned down bids from other law schools in New York and Boston, largely because of the financial help Pitt Law offered her.  With less of a financial burden, she will be able to fulfill her dream of working in the public interest. 

Currently, when Nancy isn’t studying for exams or working as a law clerk in the City Solicitor’s office, she admits to watching “a lot of C-Span” (large doses of politics are still important to her) and enjoying a bit of time off with her husband, Jon Akins, a PhD student in bioengineering at Pitt. 

As President of the Student Bar Association, Nancy has tried to focus on service and representing Pitt Law at the regional and national level.  In fall of 2009, she worked to make student orientation more relevant by involving the faculty and various community organizations in welcoming the new 1L students.  She has also established a relationship with the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to collect food items in conjunction with ticket sales to Pitt Law’s Barristers Ball.  In addition, Nancy has worked with Associate Dean Lu-in Wang on bringing faculty and students together to discuss current issues in the law through the Student/Faculty Colloquia Series, which has met with great enthusiasm and success among students and faculty alike.

Nancy has also been involved with the Pitt Law Income Sharing Foundation (PLISF), both through her volunteer work with the organization and through receiving a PLISF grant to fund her work with the National League of Cities last summer.  She is also a staff member of the Journal of Law and Commerce and a certified legal intern for the Community Economic Development Clinic.

Nancy is hoping to establish her career in Pittsburgh.  Her goal is to secure a judicial clerkship and eventually move into the District Attorney’s office.  She’d like to become involved with the Allegheny County Juvenile Courts and hopes someday to establish a Peer Court program in Western Pennsylvania.    Peer Court is a sentencing program for first-time juvenile offenders in which they are sentenced by their peers, usually to some community service activity.  Upon fulfilling the sentence, the juvenile’s legal infraction is expunged from his or her record.  The program serves as an alternative sentencing model much like the very successful Allegheny County DUI court or Mental Health court.

Knowing Nancy’s track record of working hard to fulfill her enduring dreams and aspirations, we look forward to watching her continue to achieve and make our community a better place.