When Jennifer O’Leary received her Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC, going to law school wasn’t her planned next step. But a few years later, after studying in England and having her own TV show in Taiwan, she arrived back in Vancouver just 10 days before starting her first-year law classes.

A year after that she received the Diane Kilpatrick Memorial Scholarship, awarded to a student entering second year Law who has good academic standing and an interest in helping others.

Jennifer’s route from business to law may not have been direct, but she will tell you that it has been an interesting and worthwhile journey. Her childhood ambition was acting, and she chose a Commerce degree with a major in marketing to pursue that goal. At the same time, she had a variety of acting roles, including a three-year run in Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding.

After graduating from UBC, Jennifer went to England for further study in acting. She then leapt at an opportunity to teach English in Taiwan (“I love the interactive nature of teaching as well as acting,” she says), and also did voiceover work and ultimately hosted a TV show for children.

Working for the Princeton Review in Taiwan exposed Jennifer to LSAT classes that rekindled her previous interest in law. She tried them, liked them, wrote the LSAT, was accepted to UBC (her first choice) and headed home.

“I loved my first year…it was so new, so exciting,” Jennifer says. She was active in the Law Students Legal Advice program, was elected to the Law Students’ Society, participated in the CoRe conflict resolution mediation service, was a member of a competitive moot team in second year and produced a one-hour radio program explaining mediation services.

The Kilpatrick scholarship has given Jennifer financial room to breathe. “This (scholarship) allowed me to focus on my studies, especially during the two months of moot court work. It was really intense, and I couldn’t have had a job at the same time.

The scholarship is named for Diane Kilpatrick, a lawyer and UBC alumna whose career was cut short by cancer. One of Diane’s greatest accomplishments was leading the rescue of the Manhattan, Vancouver’s oldest apartment building at the corner of Robson and Thurlow Streets, from demolition. The building subsequently became a co-op that thrives to this day, and its rooftop garden is dedicated to Diane.

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