University of Tulsa College of Law student Hope Forsyth was honored on Wednesday as the the TU recipient of the Oklahoma Bar Association Outstanding Student for 2017.
Growing up in Cushing, she would regularly go to her father’s law office there and even went to court a couple of times, but it was during college when her interest in the law developed.
“To be selected by the law school faculty for this award, to me, means that I have earned the respect of a group of people whose opinions I value,” Forsyth said. “I greatly appreciate the stellar education, mentorship and opportunities I have received throughout both my law and undergraduate education at TU.”
Forsyth is in her final year at TU and, after an internship, will begin as an associate with GableGotwals in Tulsa.
“I have not yet finalized what my practice areas will be at GableGotwals,” she said. “I am particularly interested in working in copyright and publishing law, as well as federal litigation at the district and appellate levels.”
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Giving back to the community and doing pro bono work are very important to her.
“I look forward to whatever pro bono opportunities I may have, and especially hope to work with arts organizations in support of Tulsa’s vibrant culture,” Forsyth said.
Though both of Forsythe’s parents have a legal background, Forsyth said she was never pressured into a legal career.
“They encouraged me to pursue my own academic interests wherever they might take me,” Forsythe said. “As it turns out, my interests led back to law.”
The combination of critical thinking and meaningful application along with a background in philosophy, communication and English led the second-generation lawyer to apply to law school.
“Throughout my life, whether I’ve struggled with a challenge or won some accomplishment, my dad has had two reminders for me — take the high road and remember life is a marathon, not a sprint,” Forsyth said. “I hope to live out both those canons in my practice.”
During law school, she has gained experience at multiple levels of the federal court system while interning for Chief Judge Gregory K. Frizzell, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul J. Cleary, the Northern U.S. District of Oklahoma and former U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Lane Wilson.
This spring she will intern for 10th Circuit Senior Judge Stephanie K. Seymour.
Forsyth is the Tulsa Law Review executive editor and a student member of the Council Oak/Johnson-Sontag Inn of Court. Her law review comment, “Mutually Assured Protection: Dmitri Shostakovich and Russian Influence on American Copyright Law” will be published in the Tulsa Law Review spring 2018 issue.
She is also a member of Phi Delta Phi and earned eight CALI Excellence for the Future Awards and the George and Jean Price Award for legal reasoning, research and writing. Before attending law school, her examination of the historical and current uses of the word “forum” was published in Princeton University Press’ “Digital Keywords: A Vocabulary of Information Society and Culture.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree with magna cum laude honors in communication and media studies with minors in English and philosophy from the TU and was also an Oklahoma Center for the Humanities research fellow, honors scholar, presidential scholar and National Merit Scholar.
Outside of law school, she is an America’s Test Kitchen home recipe tester and a volunteer sacramental catechist at her Catholic parish.