Alexis Ecarma

Third-year law student
Bachelor of Arts, Class of 2022

A deep dive into philosophy books, a commitment to a second language and a season of living far from home all worked together to materialize the unique dreams of an undecided student.

Alexis Ecarma ’22, a third-year student at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, was born, raised and educated in Louisville. Now, she has her sights set on becoming an immigration lawyer but the journey to unearth this passion was not straightforward.

Being in love with the city, Ecarma didn’t apply anywhere besides UofL for undergrad. She also had the encouragement of her parents – not only are they both Cardinal alums, but her father coached the university’s tennis team for 29 years. They saw in their daughter strengths well-suited for law, and Ecarma took their suggestion to heart.

“Though I came into UofL with law in mind, I didn’t really know what it meant to be a lawyer or all its possible pathways,” she said. After spending three weeks in political science, she realized that particular path wasn’t for her. “If I was going to dedicate most of my time and energy to studying something, I wanted it to spark my imagination.”

She found that spark in the philosophy classes she was taking for a minor. Pouring over complex texts and asking deep, fundamental questions correlated in her mind to law, as she knew lawyers to be detail-oriented thinkers who try to get to the bottom of things. Ecarma was confident this field of study would not only develop her skill sets for law school but also feel worthwhile and keep her interest.

“In a way I fell into the major, but I’m so glad I did,” she said.

Along with philosophy, Ecarma took Spanish, which encouraged her to keep growing her language skills and take part in the department’s study-abroad opportunities her senior year. But something would have to happen first before Ecarma would realize the transformative impact this trip would have.

Before her senior year, a classmate of Ecarma’s was working an internship at a local immigration law firm. Inspired by her classmate, Ecarma decided to do the internship as well. “Even though I wasn’t a law student yet, I really got my feet wet through that internship,” she said.

Thus, immigration law started to inch into the picture.

Then came the study abroad program in Oaxaca, Mexico. While there, she lived with a host family who only spoke Spanish and she attended several classes only in Spanish. She worked with immigration attorneys and conducted much of her senior thesis research, interviewing and writing.

The result was not only a gripping honors thesis on essential cultural training for the legal representation of undocumented Oaxacan immigrants in the U.S., but also the melding of her philosophy, Spanish culture and law passions into a clear vocational trajectory.

“Looking back, I think a lot of my undergrad experience was trying different things to figure out what sparked my curiosity,” Ecarma said. “I feel lucky that my instinct was to just follow my passions. I don’t think many students do that.”

Ecarma received her undergraduate degree in 2022 and used her thesis to provide a robust application to Brandeis School of Law. “I was able to tell the story of how I could use all these things and a law degree to help immigrant communities in Louisville specifically.”

She credits her desire to attend UofL’s law school to many factors. First, the size is neither too big nor too small. “You have a lot of different perspectives but still feel like you’re a part of something,” she said. Also, to emphasize its public service orientation, the law school has a public service graduation requirement. Ecarma fulfilled hers at Kentucky Refugee Ministries. Finally, she was offered a fellowship through the Human Rights Advocacy Fellowship upon acceptance into law school.

Ecarma also credits the climate of the law school, including its emphasis on civility in a profession essentially built on conflict. “I’ve heard at other law schools you can’t really trust the student next to you,” she said. “Here, there’s an attitude that we’re all going to get where we’re supposed to go, so why don’t we just help each other?”

Looking toward graduation and beyond, Ecarma knows the road will be tough. But she is determined.

“They say immigration law is as complicated as tax law, but it’s really dynamic since it’s so closely tied to the executive branch, and every presidential administration changes the landscape of how immigration lawyers work,” she said. “There also aren’t a lot of immigration lawyers here in Louisville, while numerous immigrant communities exist here, so the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”

She hopes to use her culture and language skills to connect with more people that she otherwise could not, and to see future clients as individuals with real families, real problems and vibrant stories.

“When you call a lawyer, usually it’s not because something good happened, but because you have a problem,” Ecarma said. “I want to be someone who helps make that really difficult time a little better and get good outcomes for clients to the best of my ability, caring for them as people and not transactions.”