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Sarah Hicks: Long-Time Dancer and Recent Graduate of Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law[By Heather Jung]

Sarah Hicks recently completed her law school career at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. She said

she decided to become a lawyer because she wanted a career that would be intellectually stimulating.

“I always joke that I could be a professional

student,” Hicks said. “Being a lawyer

is right up my alley because there are

constant changes in the law that require you

to be a ‘professional student.’”

Prior to attending law school, Hicks

graduated from Stephen F. Austin State

University with a B.B.A. in Finance. She

then attended Texas Wesleyan School of

Law for her first year of law school before

transferring to SMU, her first choice.

“I knew I wanted to practice in Dallas-Fort

Worth (DFW), and SMU has a wider base of

alumni contacts and is more widely known

than Texas Wesleyan in the DFW area,”

Hicks said.

For her first two years of law school, Hicks

interned for a medical malpractice attorney

whom she met at a ballet class. She said

they rehearsed together for a while and the

attorney asked if she would be interested in

interning. Hicks feels that the experience

gave her practical experience in a small firm.

Hicks also interned for a federal judge,

which gave her the chance to observe

hearings and gain familiarity with a

variety of pleadings and motions. She

feels that her drafting skills improved

thanks to immediate reviews of her work.

She gained experience working with the

school’s Federal Taxpayers’ Clinic, as well,

an experience she said worked well for

her because she got “a lot of experience

interviewing and communicating with

clients.”

Now that she has completed law school,

Hicks plans to work at The Holmes Firm,

PC, a firm that specializes in commercial

real estate law.

“I actually thought that I wanted to do

tax law when I came to law school,” said

Hicks. “However, after taking Real Estate

Transactions, I became interested in real

estate law. So much of what attracted me to

tax law also attracted me to real estate law:

facilitating and organizing a transaction;

attention to detail; and, most importantly,

not litigating.”

When she isn’t studying or working, you can

almost always find Hicks engaging in some

form or another of her passion: dance.

According to Hicks, she has been dancing

since she was just two years old.

“My mother actually taught dance classes,

so I was at the studio all the time,” she

said. “I was raised in a studio that believed

in having well-rounded dancers, so I can do

tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, hip hop, and pointe.

The studio, Tammy’s Dance Center in

Waxahachie, Texas, has turned out several

talented dancers that have performed all

over the world with artists such as Janet

Jackson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera,

Pink, and Beyoncé.”

Hicks has been involved in numerous

productions and performances since she

Q. What do you do for fun? A. I still enjoy taking dance classes. I find time at least once a month to fit in either a ballet class or a hip hop class. I also love to play Scrabble with my neighbor, my grandmother.

Q. What CD is in your CD player right now? A. Amy Winehouse.

Q. What is the last magazine you read? A. ABA Journal.

Q. What is your favorite TV show? A. The Riches (on FX)-the main character is pretending to be an attorney.

Q. Who is your role model? A. I have many successful people in my life that I look to for guidance, but I can’t point to just one of them as being my role model. Q. What is something most people don’t know about you? A. I was formerly a contortionist. Also, I dance during my study breaks…it’s a great artistic release, and it gets the endorphins going!

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started dancing. She has been in “several

Nutcracker performances” and served as

an assistant director for two productions

of the show that had target audiences of

school-aged children. She also performed

in a professional tap show, “World Tap,”

with the Mark Goodman Tap Company. She

spent time in Los Angeles, as well, where

she performed in several music videos and

television shows.

During her first year of law school, Hicks

auditioned for the arena football team’s

Dallas Desperados Dancers. She made

it all the way to the finals and was able

to perform in front of a large crowd but

ultimately did not make the team. She has

spent the past few seasons working with

Momentum Dance Company, performing in

several shows, including Coppélia and the

company’s spring show.

“Balancing law school and Momentum

Dance Company was not easy. I could not

do every performance because the shows

always came at the same time as finals. I

would look at my schedule for law school

and my schedule for the company, and if

there were too many conflicts, I would sit

out for that show. The director worked

with me to minimize conflicts for the

performances that I was able to do. The

ballet classes and rehearsals were every

Saturday, so there was no conflict with

law school classes. I often brought study

materials to rehearsal to make the most of

my time,” Hicks said.

As if school, interning, and dancing with

Momentum were not enough, Hicks has

been teaching dance for the past eight

years. She said that she has come to enjoy

teaching dance even more than performing.

“I love seeing the students progress and

mature,” she said. “I also enjoy the personal

challenge of identifying a group’s strengths

and choreographing to those strengths

and abilities. I’ve choreographed about 50

group routines and over 60 solos, and those

routines have won countless awards.”