Jordon Crosby Lee (JD '16)
Posted: February 22nd, 2018 | By: Lisa Snedeker
Jordan Crosby Lee (JD ’16) joined Wake Forest University School of Law’s Office of Career and Professional Development as assistant director on Feb. 5, 2018.
“We’re thrilled to have Jordan as part of the team,” said Office of Career and Professional Development Assistant Dean Francie Scott (JD ‘04), who says the law school is lucky to have been able to lure Lee back.
“His passion for helping students, his dedication to teaching and mentoring and his enthusiasm for this job, in addition to his love for Wake Forest, are unmatched and will serve him well in this position,” Scott explained.
In his role, Lee will advise law students on career goals and job searching, help develop educational programming and assist in teaching the law school’s professional development course.
He’s also assisting with a contemplative meditation exercise hosted by Professor Mark Rabil known as “Meditations on Mondays,” each week at noon at the law school.
“Professor Rabil is one of my mentors,” Lee explained. “After learning about meditation from him, my law school productivity and effectiveness changed dramatically. I found my first year of law school to be laborious but my second year to be meaningful and fulfilling, and I am convinced that it’s because of what I learned from Professor Rabil.”
The application of meditation has a lot of benefits for law school students, who are trying to deal with a competitive environment, Lee adds.
“Mindfulness helps you focus on the present, which in turn makes you more effective at whatever task you are doing. This can be especially helpful in staying composed while in the courtroom or in any other adversarial experience.”
A native of the Lone Star State, Lee is a “Triple Deac,” having graduated from Wake Forest with a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in English in addition to his JD. In between building his academic resume, Lee worked in San Antonio, Texas, as a high school creative writing and speech teacher as well as a debate coach. Lee’s work with students instilled in him a dedication to teaching and mentoring.
Noting that the field of law appeared to be a space where language directly translated to substantive action, Lee chose to apply his training in critical reading, writing and analysis to the law. He graduated from Wake Forest School of Law with multiple trial advocacy honors earned during his time on the National Trial Team (Robert Goldberg Award, Order of Barristers and other specific competition-related awards).
Upon graduating from law school and being licensed in Texas, Lee returned to his home state to practice as an associate attorney with a full-service civil litigation firm Plunkett, Griesenbeck & Mimari in San Antonio. There he worked on a variety of litigation cases spanning multiple practice areas.
However, his love for teaching, mentoring and the law quickly led him back to Mother So Dear. “My love for Wake Forest is what brought me back,” he says.
But it’s Lee’s desire to help future fellow Wake Forest Law alumni that has him most excited about his new position.
“My favorite part so far has been sitting and talking to students about how their interviews went and how they see the law school world and where they find meaning in this pursuit.”
“There is something powerful about having to be 100 percent available to someone else who is in a pivotal moment in their life. There is something powerful about having to put your own life aside and put someone else first.”
In his spare time, Lee, who is a singer/songwriter, plays guitar and performs as a member of the duo, Couldn’t Be Happiers with Jodi Hildebran (JD ‘08). He also performs as part of Wake Forest’s The Unbroken Circle band along with Hildebran and Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Jonathan Cardi.
