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By day Jessie Young is a clerk for an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the Department of Justice. By night she is a student at Lewis & Clark Law School. And somehow in between, Young is president of the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) chapter at Lewis & Clark, and a leading organizer of NALSA’s national moot court competition to be held at the college next spring.

Young, a member of the Confederated tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, realized she wanted to pursue a legal career after initially intending to go to medical school and work for the Indian Health Service. She shares with Briefly Legal why she changed direction, what she hopes to do after graduating and how she maintains a sense of balance in her life. Her responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Briefly Legal: What made you want to go to law school?

Jessie Young: I took a composition class that focused on Native Americans when I was a freshman at the University of Toledo, and we were required to write a paper about our major. I wrote about wanting to work for the (Indian Health Service). As I dug deeper into its history, I began to realize that it had quite a blemished past. I ultimately wrote my final paper on how, at one point, the IHS was sterilizing Native American women as a policy matter. My professor entered my paper into a writing competition with the Women’s Education and Action League, and I won second place. I began to reflect on my career choice, and decided that if I ever wanted to change policy or ensure that policies like this one never occurred again, I would have to set aside my childhood dream of becoming a doctor and make a total career change.

BL: What are your plans after law school?

Young: I would like to practice criminal law because I am extremely interested in bringing justice to Indian country. There is an epidemic of violence occurring against Indians, especially Indian women. This epidemic is a direct result of the jurisdictional maze in Indian country. In particular, sovereign Indian tribes are not able to enforce their laws over non-Indian individuals who commit crimes in Indian country.

BL: How do you balance law school, your day job and serving as president of NALSA?

Young: I take some part of each day for myself. Most of the time that consists of riding my bike to and from school, walking my dog with my boyfriend or talking on the phone with my family. And I always try to take my work seriously, but not take myself too seriously and always remember to smile.