The Classical Jurisprudent

Classics alum Lexi Andre (A.B. ’17) is a supervising attorney who works with unaccompanied child migrants seeking asylum. She also represents clients in civil rights cases. Andre says that she draws on a long list of skills from her training in classics “any time I have to put together a client’s story, write a brief, or figure out how to respond to the government’s arguments or decisions.” Photography by Leisa Thompson/Michigan Photography

As a first-generation college student, Alexandra “Lexi” Andre (A.B. ’17) started at Michigan with the intention of one day going to medical school. She wanted to land in a steady career that would help others, and becoming a doctor seemed like a great way to do that. But during her first semester, Andre fell in love—first with Latin, and then with ancient Greek.

In LSA’s classics department, where she learned about the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome, Andre says that she felt deeply connected to something larger than herself. That first year, she declared a major in classics and received a scholarship to study at the Paideia Institute in Italy that summer. The following summer, Andre received another scholarship to participate in an archaeological dig in Gabii, just outside of Rome. There, uncovering objects from lives 2,000 years in the past, Andre says she was struck by the realization that people are very similar across times and cultures. “And that’s a very powerful feeling to carry into our days now,” she says, “one that develops greater empathy and understanding.”

And then there were the languages. “I found myself marveling at word pictures and the manipulation of language, at Vergil’s tortured use of Greek accusatives in his telling of the story of Laocoön’s sons,” she says. For Andre, witnessing the persuasive rigor of early Greek and Latin literature signaled that her talents, and her ambition to help others, would be put to good use in the humanities.

So Andre pivoted. Instead of becoming a doctor, she decided that she would become a lawyer.

A More Equitable World

After earning her undergraduate degree, Andre pursued a law degree at U-M (J.D. ’21). There, she learned about the complex historical, political, and cultural dynamics that shape global human rights law, interning first in Namibia at the Ministry of Justice’s Law Reform and Development Commission, which works to remove the vestiges of Apartheid and promote a more equitable society, and later in Geneva, at the International Service for Human Rights.

Both experiences showed Andre how she might position herself most effectively to serve vulnerable populations, and she decided to pivot again, from international human rights law to direct services with individuals in her home state of Michigan.

Today, Andre is a supervising attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) in Detroit. She works with unaccompanied children in and out of immigration detention who are seeking asylum and other forms of status, helping them to navigate a complicated and difficult process, and she also represents clients in civil rights cases. The job is not easy, Andre says. Many of her young clients have experienced profound trauma, and as their attorney, Andre is concerned for their safety and feels their distress. But she also says that since joining MIRC in 2021 she quickly developed a love for working with and learning from her clients and colleagues.

Andre speaks on immigration issues at a recent law conference. She says that the defunding of many legal services has made her job more difficult and her clients more vulnerable. Her dedication to this work, however, remains undefeated. Photo courtesy of the City of Detroit

Presenting a Good Case

In her work as an attorney, Andre relies on her classics degree every day.

“Any time I have to put together a client’s story, write a brief, or figure out how to respond to the government’s arguments or decisions,” Andre says that she draws on a long list of skills from her training in classics that transfer directly into the work of untangling legalese language puzzles, writing persuasively, analyzing precise details of case law and statutes, and thinking critically about history and meaning.

“We have entered and are spiraling deeper into a post-literate world,” Andre says. “Especially now, with the proliferation of TikTok, the shortcuts of AI, and other technological distractions, people are reading less and less.”

The skills you learn through studying classics, through reading written words slowly and intentionally and investigating cultural contexts to parse out meanings, are becoming rarer. But they are so crucial to understanding other people and making sure we are understood, and to presenting a good case.”

For reasons beyond the discipline’s applications to her legal career, Andre is glad she chose classics. Many of the legal services that MIRC provides have been defunded, and Andre says that makes her job more difficult and her clients more vulnerable as they are losing access to their attorneys. Recently, she’s returned to reading classical literature in pursuit of insight and optimism, which in turn helps her to better celebrate the small wins at work: the establishment of a weekly advice clinic, a former client starting a family, a child client receiving asylum approval and edging closer to safety and stability. 

In the spring, Andre took a solo trip to Greece. She rented a car and drove to several archaeological sites, recalled the ancient Greek words that would have been spoken in the place 2,500 years ago, and was reminded of the beauty, creativity, and connection that existed in that world, and that still exists in ours.