Zac Hayburn

Hometown: Granville, Ohio

Education: Miami University, international studies and comparative religion

Who I was then: I played a lot of baseball and, for reasons that now elude me, football on the neighborhood pavement. We honestly wanted nothing else but to hang out at the creek during the day and have a bonfire to top it off at night. I could not have cared less about school. I also cannot say I had any big life ambitions; I never really thought past being with my friends and playing and watching sports. It was the life.

Amazing law school class: Every class is amazing if you decide to make it that way. Every case has something that makes you think. Cases are, after all, stories about people. And people are interesting.

Noteworthy summer job: I tried four cases my 2L summer between the Office of Special Prosecutions  and the Ketchikan District Attorney’s Office, both in Alaska. I did a couple oral arguments, wrote several briefs (I won the state of Alaska’s Misdemeanor Case of the Year award for one of them), and covered more hearings than I would care to admit. It was very me — all gas, no breaks, and very little glitz or glamour.

What’s next (job/location): I will be an assistant attorney general in Alaska’s Office of Special Prosecutions.

Who I am now: Though I do like to read books and stuff now, I am still fundamentally the same person I was growing up. A very fancy law degree has not changed me because I would not let it. I still unabashedly do what I think is right. I still care immensely about the people around me. I still remain an idealist. I definitely thought my idealism would lead me down a different path, but my principles were precisely what led me here to begin with. I firmly believe in the Constitution, the rule of law and the experiment of our republic.

What you should know about Virginia Law: I truly cannot put into words what this institution means to me. To quote Abraham Lincoln, “no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.”