E164: Linda Santoni 2L at the University of Bologna Law School, and our first ever guest from Italy!

This episode with Linda Santoni is a bit of a milestone for the podcast. Linda is a 2L at the University of Bologna in Italy and the first guest I have ever had from Italy, which, by itself, made this a fun one to record. It also happened to be my final episode recorded from Albany before making the move back to Long Island, so a fitting send-off all around.Linda’s path is genuinely unlike anything I have covered before. In Italy, law school is a five-year program that doubles as your bachelor’s degree, so she started right out of high school at 19 years old. Before that, in high school, she focused on Humanities Studies, where she some time reading and learned Greek and Latin texts in their original languages. We got into how that discipline actually translates pretty cleanly to legal work, and it might be one of the most interesting connections I have drawn with a guest in a while.What I really enjoyed about this conversation was where it went after the basics. Linda is deep into international law and has already been to Washington, D.C. for the American Society of International Law’s annual meeting, where she serves as Vice Chair of the International Development Law Interest Group. She also walked through her experience as an advisor for the Philip Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which she initially saw as a failure for not making the speaking team, but turned into one of the most valuable experiences she has had. The whole “failure opening doors you wouldn’t have seen otherwise” thing landed.We also got philosophical, which you knew was going to happen the second she mentioned reading Aristotle in Greek. I asked Linda about her take on the American Dream for young lawyers, and her answer about community impact and giving a voice to people who get neglected by the system was genuinely one of the more thoughtful answers I have gotten to that kind of question.Linda’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/linda-santoniBe sure to check out the Official Sponsors for the Lawyers in the Making Podcast:Rhetoric - Empowers your teaching and training with AI that strengthens learning, protects integrity, and proves authentic understanding, for students and professionals alike, with CICERO. Find them here: userhetoric.comThe Law School Operating System™ Recorded Course - This course is for ambitious law students who want a proven, simple system to learn every topic in their classes to excel in class and on exams. Go to www.lisablasser.com, check out the student tab with course offerings, and use code LSOSNATE10 at checkout for 10% off Lisa’s recorded course!Start LSAT - Founded by former guest and 22-year-old superstar, Alden Spratt, Start LSAT was built upon breaking down barriers, allowing anyone access to high-quality LSAT Prep. For $110, you get the Start LSAT self-paced course, and using code LITM10, you get 10% off the self-paced course! Check out Alden and Start LSAT at startlsat.com and use codeLITM10 for 10% off the self-paced course!Lawyers in the Making Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Lawyers in the Making Podcast at lawyersinthemaking.substack.com/subscribe