"I had many students who didn’t come every day. I would call their mothers, only to find out they had a brother who was older and they had to share shoes or something like that. I grew up in not a wealthy family but this was beyond. And often I noticed these women were despondent, some of them had black eyes, and […] I discovered that [domestic abuse] was not an uncommon problem. It bothered me for many many years: What could I have done to help them? What kept coming up was, ‘had you been a lawyer, you could’ve done something for them.’ As my 50th birthday was approaching, and my kids were grown, I said to myself, ‘If I don’t try to go to law school I’m going to die hating myself […]’ At least I will have tried.”