Nicole Poole
Name:
Nicole Poole
MSU Degree(s):
BA in English, 2017
Any other degrees:
JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence) from University of Tennessee, 2020
Favorite memories of being an undergraduate English major:
I really enjoyed writing my final paper in Shalyn Claggett’s 19th Century British Literature class. She let us write about *almost* whatever we wanted. I focused my paper on “thing theory” and analyzed how the characters in Dombey and Son treated their objects instead of how they treated the people in their lives. I loved how the English department let me spend time with my professors to perfect my final product, instead of being graded on one piece of work with no opportunities to revise and improve. I also vividly remember a perfect Spring day in Kelly Marsh’s Contemporary British Literature class when we left our desks and sat outside on the Drill Field to discuss poetry.
Current Position/Organization:
I am an associate attorney with Starnes Davis Florie in Nashville, Tennessee and my work focuses on medical malpractice. I defend hospitals, medical groups, clinics, physicians, practitioners, fertility clinics, and other health care providers in Tennessee.
When you graduated with a degree in English from MSU, what were your plans for your future? Has your career path mostly realized those early plans, or have you discovered new plans and goals along the way?
I knew I wanted to go to law school when I enrolled at MSU. I took all of MSU’s pre-law courses, which I feel paired well with my English courses. The English department and the way it allowed me to foster relationships with professors helped me maintain a high GPA, which made applying to law schools easy. If I had chosen another major I do not think I would have been able to meet with my professors one-on-one as often, and that would affected my final work product and GPA.
What is your current occupation, and what does your work mostly consist of?
As a medical malpractice defense lawyer, I work with my clients through all phases of a health care liability lawsuit. I go on-site to the facility, conduct interviews of staff to get a better idea of how the facility functions and what may have happened on the day in question. I review medical records to identify other factors that may have impacted the care provided. I take and defend depositions, during which I get to strategically ask questions and elicit information under oath that I can use to help make my point to the Judge as the case progresses. I draft motions and present arguments to the presiding judge that determine how the case proceeds and what evidence we are allowed to introduce at trial. If the case makes it all the way to a jury trial, I participate in all aspects of that trial. We select a jury, present opening statements, cross-examine all of the plaintiff’s witnesses, present evidence to defend my client through my witnesses, and present closing arguments.
Which skills that you learned as an English major do you use most in your job?
The obvious answer is writing, although it took me a few years to fully grasp how different legal writing is from writing about young women dramatically collapsing on “fainting couches.” Even more than writing, the critical thinking I learned as an English major has helped mold me into the attorney I am. There are many ways to work-up a new matter and develop a strategy for the defense of my case. The English department taught me to consider multiple interpretations of everything I come across, which helps me anticipate the other party’s theory of the case. When I am able to see multiple arguments and interpretations of the facts in my case, I am better prepared to defend my clients.
What additional skills did you need to learn in order to do your job, and how did you learn them?
I had to learn to take the grandiosity out of my writing and know my audience. Writing about fiction and analyzing the psychology of characters I grew to love is much more enjoyable, but judges do not care about the inner workings of my client’s mind. Law school and my mentor at the firm had to teach me to focus on simpler language and straight-forward facts when writing for a judge. There is a place for creativity, interpretation, and dramatic flair in the practice of law (i.e. oral arguments and presentations to a jury), but writing is not that place.
In what ways does your career enrich your life and help you to achieve your personal as well as your professional goals?
My career allows me to show up to work every day and use my mind. I do not punch a clock and wait for 5:00 p.m. Every day, I work with the other attorneys in my office to strategically move my cases forward, and I really enjoy the process of sharing our ideas about how that can be best accomplished. Nothing I do could be categorized as “busy work” because I get to approach every case in a different way.
My goals have always been pretty straightforward: I want to work hard, enjoy my work, and feel like I am a necessary component of the team. I also want my job to provide me the security to enjoy my life outside of the office. Practicing in a law firm has satisfied all of these goals.
What advice do you have for undergraduate English majors right now who might want to follow the career path you did?
Take advantage of how available your professors make themselves to you. That is not the norm in other departments. Take the time to work with them in revising and perfecting your papers. That revision process is very similar to working with a partner in actual legal practice. That feedback and the unique opportunity to revise until your final work product is nearly perfect will also be present when you are practicing law and working with firm partners. The more comfortable you get with working in a collaborative environment and actually implementing other people’s ideas, the better attorney you will be.
[Updated June 2024]