by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Seeing that imaginary light bulb flick on over a student’s head is what really brightens Emily Hurst-Martin’s day.
“When you see them finally break through . . . money can’t replace that,” she said. “You’ve given something that will continue to help that person for years on end.”
For the past 10 months, Hurst-Martin has been the director of Academic Support at Florida Coastal School of Law. Her primary job is to work with students who are on academic probation and work with other students who want additional help.
The program also sets up formal study groups for first-semester students, pairs each student with a faculty mentor and offers school-sponsored bar preparation workshops for graduating seniors.
“Sometimes, students have a problem organizing the thoughts they want to put down on paper,” said Hurst-Martin. “And that is usually a problem because they’ve learned such a massive amount of information.
“It is tough during an exam, trying to work with all that information, getting it down in an orderly fashion in a limited time frame.”
All students on academic probation — those with a GPA below 2.0 — are required to get assistance from Hurst-Martin at least twice a semester, “but any student is welcome to come see me.”
“Most of the students I deal with are very eager to do better,” she added. “A lot of them come much more often than those two times a semester.”
Peter Goplerud, the new dean at FCSL, has already had an opportunity to evaluate Hurst-Martin’s program.
When he was at Southern Illinois University, Goplerud said, “They had a pretty strong academic support program in place. As good as I thought that was, it’s nowhere near as good as what Florida Coastal now has in place.”
Before coming to Jacksonville, Hurst-Martin’s private law practice in Birmingham focused on tort, criminal law and appellate law. Before that, the Anniston, Ala., native was an associate at Polson & Robbins and at Kirby & Associates.
“The Academic Support Program helps students make the transition into law study, both efficiently and effectively,” said Hurst-Martin. “As a former law student, it is exciting to be a part of a program that provides students with an ‘I can do it’ attitude.”
She earned her bachelor’s degree in technology with a specialization in business administration from Jacksonville (Ala.) State University. She is a graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
She moved to Jacksonville when her husband, Gary Martin, was transferred by the company he worked for at the time.
Looking for a new job in a new town can be tough, she said, “But you adjust. And this job has certainly been worth it for me.”
Just because a student isn’t doing well doesn’t mean there’s a lack of ability or effort.
Mix stress with a flood of new material at the onset of a three-year case of fatigue, and the brew can be overwhelming.
“We do try and inform them during orientation — and prior to that, if we have the opportunity — as to how much work is required in law school,” said Hurst-Martin. “It is such a huge change from what they experienced in undergraduate school.”
The way students approach their studies may also require a little tinkering.
“Some students come to us from, say, engineering backgrounds, and they just haven’t had a lot of experience with writing essay exams in undergraduate school,” said Hurst-Martin. “I help them with their study skills — such as taking taking notes in class, doing their outlines for class, taking essay and multiple-choice exams.
“I also talk to students about organizing their time and trying to set limits on their work hours, trying to prioritize what they’re doing.”
Most students also have to deal with the initial shock that comes of being exposed to entirely new concepts phrased in entirely new ways. Hovenkamp’s text on federal antitrust policy, after all, isn’t as quick a read as “A Time To Kill.”
“They do have to learn a new vocabulary,” said Hurst-Martin. “A lot of what they read, these very old cases, are not written in the way legal writing is done today.
“Especially their first year, they’re reading material on a daily basis that is . . . verbose. On day one, orientation, we tell them they need to buy Black’s Law Dictionary. It will be their new best friend.”
Even if she had the extra time, Hurst-Martin wouldn’t be wasting much of it looking back over her shoulder.
“I really do enjoy working with the students,” she said. “In private practice, I did a lot of appellate law for other attorneys in town. They would hire me to write their briefs and sometimes go help argue the cases at the appellate level.
“I really enjoyed that. But this job is much more fulfilling.”