“I love seeing how legislation works,” says Alex Westenskow, ’20. “I love the process—it’s frustrating, awful, and interesting.” Which is one reason why Westenskow studied law. “I made the goal to attend BYU Law in 2011. Even though life hit and stuff happened, I just kept pushing until everything lined up,” he says. Prior to law school, he studied political science at Utah Valley University, where he worked at the Center for Constitutional Studies. Later he took a position as communications advisor for US Senator Mike Lee.
While at BYU Law, Westenskow interned with the Salt Lake City Immigration Court. He says, “Working closely with the immigration judges, I had a behind-the-scenes look at all the parties in our immigration system. Seeing what individual immigrants go through, what the attorneys go through, and how judges evaluate cases was life changing. I knew I had found where I was supposed to be.”
Westenskow has been selected to be part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program—the nation’s premier entry-level federal attorney recruitment program—which attracts candidates from hundreds of law schools across the country. Following graduation, he will clerk for a US immigration court in Arizona. “It’s a tender time for people who have pending immigration status. There are many families that don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says. “The most valuable thing I learned at BYU Law is to embrace what’s hard rather than distancing myself from it. You can be comfortable with difficulty.”
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