Kevin Lee to Join Haynes and Boone After Graduation From SMU
SMU law student Kevin Lee, whose journey has taken him from being unhoused after a snowstorm left the home he shared with his mother as a teenager in Pittsburgh uninhabitable to studying at SMU’s Dedman School of Law, graduates May 13. Afterward, he’s secured a job as a business litigation lawyer at Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone.
Lee’s immediate focus after graduation will be preparing for the bar exam in July before starting work in October.
“This proves that anything is possible,” he said. “I came to Texas with nothing…but I had a dream, I had a vision, you know, and this was the dream, this was the vision…it’s all worth it, and I just live by the mantra never give up, never give in.”
Lee will also begin work in the summer on writing a book with Justin Calderone, a former teacher of his from Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh in hopes of sharing steps for success.
“He’s a teacher I had when I was homeless and…he knew I had stuff going on, he didn’t know what it was…but he always supported me when I was there,” he said. “We’ve stayed in contact ever since and he’s followed the story, he’s followed the progress.”
Lee said he’ll continue to serve on the board of After8toEducate, a nonprofit serving unsheltered high school students, One Community USA, on the CoAct North Texas steering committee, and he plans to remain involved with SMU as an alumnus.
For more of Kevin’s story, click here and his 2022 People Newspapers 20 Under 40 profile here.
