Graduate Profile: 2024 Class Co-Valedictorian Anna Nelson
2024 Cleveland State University College of Law Co-Valedictorian and Tucker Ellis Patent Agent Anna Nelson ‘24 never had law school in mind when finishing her undergraduate studies. Nor did she ever have the idea of being valedictorian in mind throughout law school. But four years of hard work later, Anna is proud of the honor.
“As an evening student, I put zero expectations on myself,” explained Anna. “Going to law school had never been a plan or goal of mine, so I did not envision this kind of success when arriving here. But with reduced pressure on myself to be perfect in school, I think I managed to really learn better.”
Anna graduated with an undergraduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Ohio State University. She entered the workforce as a Patent Engineer and later a Patent Agent with Eschweiler & Potashnik, LLC, where she put her degree to work drafting patent applications and responding to office actions in the semiconductor device and remote sensing industries. Anna enjoyed the work and recognized a law degree would be a key for career growth.
“Without a law degree, you are very limited on how much you can counsel clients in my position,” said Anna. “I realized that I would get bored throughout my career if I could not get to know and help my clients more. After a lot of encouragement from the partners at Eschweiler & Potashnik, I figured I should at least try law school while still early in my career.”
Anna enrolled in CSU|LAW Part-Time Program as an evening student, and attributes much of her success to the unique energy and camaraderie of the evening group. Seeing her classmates manage law school and as well as all sorts of other life events motivated Anna to believe she was capable of excelling. She also believes the time management skills she developed during her engineering studies, where assignments might take minutes or days, was a critical tool during law school.
But none of the success would have been possible without her support group of friends and family, including her husband and their two cats, Sam and Honey.
“Being co-valedictorian has really made me reflect on the incredible support I have had throughout law school through my family, friends, and especially at Tucker Ellis,” said Anna “I could not have achieved this without my work’s support, understanding, and flexibility; my family’s encouragement; my husband’s willingness to take on all of life’s responsibilities like cooking, cleaning, and running errands; and my friends cheering me on.”
Anna found her studies at CSU|LAW and her position as a Patent Agent with Tucker Ellis, which she started early in her studies, supported each other. Learning about intellectual property law beyond writing patents gave Anna motivation to keep growing at work, where she has now prepared nearly 100 new patent applications for clients in the semiconductor device, optical device, metallurgical, and mechanical industries. And learning about various IP legal issues at her job gave Anna the motivation to keep learning at law school. She was particularly inspired by Professor Christa Laser’s IP courses as they helped her solidify future career plans.
Anna will take the Ohio Bar Exam this Summer and plans to continue working in Tucker Ellis in patent law, where she hopes to expand her role in other aspects of intellectual property law, including trademark law and IP agreements.