Discovering Her Love for the Courtroom

Suffolk Law 3L Jordan Marie Moore knows the world she is graduating into is uncertain, complex, and constantly shifting. It is a challenge, she says, but not a paralyzing one—because Suffolk Law has taught her how to adapt and innovate.

“Something we talk a lot about in clinic is kind of getting comfortable with the uncertainty. You are taught how to see the field of possibilities, [even when] you just don’t know which way things will go,” says Moore, a student attorney in the Suffolk Law Family Advocacy Clinic and member of the award-winning National Trial Team. Last year, Moore was named Best Advocate at the regional championships.

At 25, she and her peers have been shaped by the instability of their pandemic-interrupted college years, as well as a chaotic political and legal climate. “We’ve grown up always being told we’re in an unprecedented time,” Moore says. Given this state of flux, “where we don’t always know what fundamental laws will be kept and applied,” she appreciates how Suffolk Law seeks to teach students beyond their Constitutional Law textbooks, exposing them to how things actually work.

Cultivating confidence in uncertain times

With graduation approaching, Moore is both reflective and forward-looking—her excitement over next steps, likely working in court as a litigator, is grounded in a deep sense of readiness—something she credits to the distinctly hands-on nature of her legal education.

“I think what’s really unique about Suffolk is that it’s a school of doers,” she explains. “The school really sets you up to achieve results in and out of the courtroom.”

From the beginning, her law school experience was based on real-life practice and courtroom exposure. “I had mentors and supervising attorneys who were there to bring me to court and just answer simple questions like, Where do I go? Where do I meet my client?”

The result is a level of confidence that many young lawyers spend years building. “Now that I’m graduating, I feel even more prepared than I did in college to go out and actually accomplish things,” she says.

Moore’s path to Suffolk began when the Chicago native was completing her undergraduate work at Howard University and learned about Suffolk Law’s Thaddeus Alexander Kitchener Scholarship. Named for the first student of color to graduate from Suffolk Law, the award guarantees full-tuition scholarships for HBCU graduates.

In Boston she discovered that the courtroom is where she feels most professionally vital. “I love trial and being in court more than I love any individual area of the law,” she says. Another important part of life at Suffolk was creating a strong sense of connection and representation for herself and others, particularly through the Black Law Students Association. “I didn’t want to just seek out the community,” she says. “I wanted to help build it.”

Mentorship, in many forms, has been central to her growth. From early guidance offered by Assistant Dean Kerimal Suriel Guerrero, JD ’23, to the intensive instruction by Suffolk’s National Trial Team Principal Coach Tom Beauvais, JD ’10 and Professor Tim Wilton, Moore credits relationships with shaping her into the advocate she is becoming.

“They really molded my argument style,” she says of her coaches. “They’re the ones who have spent the most time teaching, pouring into me.” Gratitude has motivated her to mentor others. As a Marshall-Brennan Fellow, Moore recently guided one of her high school constitutional law students to the finals of a moot court competition in US District Court.

In the short term, as she prepares for the bar exam, Moore is making plans to practice family law and civil litigation in California, fields where her clinical experience already gives her an edge.

As she looks ahead, Moore carries that support—and a commitment to pay it forward—into the next chapter of her career. “As I get to those same places, I want to be the type of person who’s looking back to help people the same way that I was helped,” she says.