Dec. 5, 2024
Growing up, Hope Adamson has always had a close relationship with her dad, Chuck. It’s a relationship that only deepened after Hope, then a political science major at the University of Missouri, asked to shadow the elder Adamson, who heads the employment trial division at the Missouri Attorney General’s office, during a trial.
“She saw everything,” Chuck Adamson said. “And at the end of it, her mom said, ‘Hope wants to talk to you.’ And I said, of course. Hope came to me and said, ‘Dad, I want to go to law school.’”
For Chuck, a journalist-turned-attorney, it was exciting news.
“Law school has been a blessing, I know to her, certainly to me,” he said.
That news only became more exciting when Hope Adamson, who is now a third-year law student at Mizzou Law, decided to pursue a student position with the newly relaunched and renamed Child and Family Justice Clinic — the same clinic where her father practiced when he was a student at Mizzou Law.
For Hope, who was choosing between that and the Criminal Practice Clinic, her dad’s story had an outsized influence on her desire to enroll.
“I was looking at this clinic, in part because my dad told me he had a great experience there,” she said. “He was talking about how he had clients he was helping, and it sounded really good.”
As an aspiring litigator, the clinic also provided the opportunity to be in court.
Though it’s early in the semester, the younger Adamson has caught the attention of Professor Danielle Dodd, who has directed the Child and Family Justice Clinic since it reopened in spring 2024.
“Hope is doing great,” she said. “She’s currently working on two cases, with full representation. Along with this, she’s working within the community to connect the clinic with other organizations that serve our population.”
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