JMU English Alumna Kirsten Barron ('87) on Law, Literature, and Career Success
English
SUMMARY: Kirsten Barron, 1987 English graduate, is a partner at her law firm, Barron, Quinn, Blackwood. English intern, Drake Miller, interviewed Barron about her outlook on the English major and her time at JMU. Following her graduation from JMU, Barron attended the University of Richmond School of Law, graduating in 1991.
Q: What was your favorite class that you took with the English department at JMU?
Barron: “My Shakespeare class [with Dr. Ralph Cohen]. I focused in college on Black American writers, and this Shakespeare class was really surprising to me, because all of the things I liked about the experiences of people’s humanity happen in Shakespeare as well.”
Q: What was your most fond experience with JMU English or JMU as a whole?
Barron: “When I realized that you could read books, watch movies, write, read poetry, and get a degree, I was like what? Come on! This is the best. I felt like it was really entertaining, fun, and engaging. I think at the end of the day what is so fundamental to our existence in the world is our opportunity to explore humanity.”
“Those are the two things: one, it was so fun and entertaining. Two, it was so meaningful to my experience as a human on the planet.”
Q: What were you involved with outside of the English department at JMU?
Barron: “I was in a sorority, AST, and did a ton of work on the Panhellenic Council. I also was our Social Service Chair, and did a bunch of social service work. So that was probably my primary involvement in college.”
Q: What do you do now?
Barron: “I’m a lawyer. I do business and employment work. I’m kind of like a general counsel to small businesses [in Northwest Washington]. I help people solve problems, I help people buy things, sell things, engage and write contracts, figure out how they are in relation to other people and businesses. So I would say I have a general business and employment practice.”
“My English degree is something that I use every single day. Not just my ability to think and write – obviously as a lawyer that’s incredibly important, but really it’s important in almost every job you have.”
“I think my English degree really helped my critical thinking. Frankly, as much as law school did. I think that when I got to law school, I was ready for critical thinking.”
Q: Are there any particular skills that you learned during your time as an English major that benefited you in your professional experiences?
Barron: “Absolutely. I still get this today – I still have people say to me, ‘Kirsten, you’re a really good writer.’”
“I do a lot of pro-bono work right now, and a ton of volunteer work. [...] I have done more and more public speaking, and I really come back to the conversations I had in my college English classes that helped me articulate my thoughts, really around what it means to be human.”
Q: If you were to give advice to a current JMU English major, what would you say?
Barron: “English students should be confident about their skills and value. I think, sometimes, that people think because we’re English majors that we don’t have skills. Like, what are we going to do? So many things. [...] It’s so incredibly valuable – I don’t know why everyone isn’t an English major.
This interview is one part in a series on English Department alumni.
