Law School in Brief, created and co-hosted by an Elon Law student and her friend from Washington University in St. Louis, regales listeners with stories both silly and serious of life as a law student.
What do you do when you’re quarantined at home, studying the federal rules of evidence, and a neighbor steps naked onto his balcony to dry laundry directly across from your own apartment?
A.) Stay laser focused on your computer screen (not moving a muscle so you don’t catch his attention from just inside your open balcony door).
B.) Quietly call your husband over to gawk together at what your eyes can’t believe.
C.) Later discuss the legal implications of privacy and protected rights on a podcast you produce with a close friend.
D.) All of the above.
If you’re Elon Law student Megan Reilly-Dreas L’21, the answer is obviously “D.” And, whoa boy, does the athletic neighbor with the man-bun make for robust conversation, first with her husband and later her co-host.
Welcome to Law School in Brief, a podcast created by Reilly-Dreas and her friend from Washington University in St. Louis who together detail the lives and adventures of two women who “hope this show gives more people a window into law school.”
Now in its 36th installment – a new episode is recorded every week or so – the co-hosts consider prospective students their primary audience. “When we were looking for information during our own law school applications, we found that it was really difficult to encounter a firsthand, real-time account of law school,” Reilly-Dreas said. “That was the original inspiration. We wanted to give people access to information and hold ourselves accountable.”
Reilly-Dreas and her co-host, Lydia, are clear about their motivations for hosting the program. Building community is important. So is social justice. The duo also wants prospective law school students to understand obstacles to access to a legal education, and they provide insights into their own approaches. Finally, there’s the entertainment value, which they emphasize on the front page of the podcast’s website.
The naked neighbor in Episode 32, “The Things We’ve Seen from the Window,” exposes with giggles just one of the many issues Reilly-Dreas encounters. But since launching last summer, the friends have touched upon just about everything experienced by first-year law students: studying for finals, the pressure of succeeding as first-generation law students, securing summer internships, balancing school with the needs of family and friends. They also swap techniques for staying healthy, connecting with relatives, and even insights into beloved pets.
For Reilly-Dreas, the biggest surprise is how many people listen. She receives texts from old colleagues and friends who remark about particular episodes and listeners from as far away as Australia will email compliments. By March, the show was topping 100 downloads per episode off Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, plus streams directly off the website.
Not bad for a production that Reilly-Dreas records on Skype, under a blanket to muffle ambient noise, using nothing more than Yeti microphones that cost each friend $120.
One of the episodes earned Reilly-Dreas a runner-up award from the Center for Writing Excellence in Elon University’s 2020 Multimodal Writing Competition. Her efforts don’t surprise some of the Elon Law professors who have taught Reilly-Dreas in class.
“She’s one of those students who will actually come to office hours and wants to build a relationship,” said Sara Ochs, a Legal Method and Communication Fellow who first met Reilly-Dreas last year in an Introduction to Legal Studies course for all new Elon Law students. “It was clear she wasn’t just doing it for the grade. She was doing it because she is passionate about the law and using her education for the greater good, which is always inspiring to hear.”
The Los Angeles native graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in feminist studies and literature. Shortly after returning home, Reilly-Dreas saw an advertisement for an annual San Francisco-to-L.A. biking fundraiser in support of The Los Angeles LGBT Center. She was soon training for the ride. When her personal fundraising goal surpassed $10,000, she caught the eye of center staff who soon offered Reilly-Dreas a full-time job.
“I had always thought I wanted to go to law school but when I graduated from college I got sucked into life,” she said. “I’m grateful this happened because I felt the experiences I had led me here and I can pursue a legal education from a more informed standpoint.”
Cycling became her pastime. Reilly-Dreas met Lydia when the duo co-led a 2016 coast-to-coast trek with nearly three dozen riders as part of a fundraiser for Bike & Build, a nonprofit that raises money and awareness for affordable housing. A few years later, as both friends prepared to leave their careers to attend law school, the notion of a podcast was born.
“When I had this idea, I knew it had to be Megan,” Lydia said. “I knew it would only work if Megan was my co-host because she’s so fun and such a good storyteller.”
The friends expect to produce episodes for two more years before wrapping up their project. Plenty of podcasts exist from any of the legal profession’s many practice areas and, by the time 2022 rolls around, there will be other opportunities to pursue as law school graduates.
For now, in addition to learning the law and pursuing professional opportunities in social justice movements, Reilly-Dreas is focused on creating some “good laughs” and the levity needed to survive law school.
“The intent is still there the way it was in the beginning, but it has become a respite for both of us,” she said. “Nobody could have predicted how things would take a turn.”