Both are lawyers. Both say they are driven by the school's mission
to train students that an integral part of being lawyers is to
give back to their communities.
"This mission of the school - - that lawyers need to give
back to their communities - - is why I went to law school,"
said Ms. Edwards, a 1999 graduate of the University of North Carolina
Law School. "As lawyers, we can help so many people and help
them to change their lives for the better."
Ms. Borinsky, a 2002 graduate of the University of Virginia School
of Law, agreed and added, "Having a public service mission
doesn't limit our students to public service jobs. Our students
are required to perform public service to augment their education
so they understand that part of being a lawyer - - whether in
a corporate environment, a non-profit or in governmental work
- - is to provide some free legal help to people in need."
Students at the Charleston School of Law are among the few in
the nation who are required to perform 30 hours of public service
before they graduate. The school also is the only one in the nation
to require its faculty to provide 30 hours of pro bono work annually.
Ms. Edwards, a native of Chadbourn, N.C., served as student body
president when she attended the College of Charleston, from which
she graduated in 1994. Following a year of working in Japan and
another year in Charleston at the college, she attended law school.
Upon graduation, she clerked for U.S. District Judge David Norton
for two years and then went into private practice, first with
Nelson, Riley, Mullins and Scarborough in Charleston and then
with the McGougan Law Firm LLC in North Myrtle Beach.
Ms. Borinsky, a Virginia native, also has a bachelor's degree
from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's in legal history
from the University of Virginia. Before joining the Charleston
School of Law, she practiced law in the areas of energy, trademark
and international boundary dispute with the internationally-recognized
firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae in Washington, DC.
