Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan speaks to students

Elena Kagan, associate of the U.S. Supreme Court, told an audience of law students, professors and invited guests that she approached opinion writing the same way she prepared to teach law classes: by breaking down an argument and using analogies and hypothetical situations to make ideas stick.

"I try to drop the legalese and express things the way people would in normal conversation," Kagan said during her speech on Sept. 20 in the Merhige Moot Courtroom.

Wendy Perdue, dean of the T.C. Williams School of Law, directed the conversation with questions about the inner workings of the court, Kagan's career and background and her approach to decision making.

Kagan discussed the process of vetting cases and choosing 75 to 100 cases out of the 8,000 to 9,000 petitions that reached the Supreme Court each year. Clerks write memos about the case discussions, and Kagan said she talked with the clerks about the different points of view and arguments to determine whether a case presented an important issue that would be beneficial to resolve for the nation.

In response to Perdue's question about the reason fewer cases had been reaching the Supreme Court, Kagan said she thought all the justices would say they needed to take more cases at one point. "But I can't tell you that I think we're leaving all that much on the table," she said.

Before President Obama appointed Kagan to the Supreme Court in 2010, she worked on the other side of the process as the 45th solicitor general of the United States. Answering questions in her role as solicitor general had been harder than asking them as a justice, Kagan said.

At the end of the conversation, Kagan took questions from the audience. She was asked about her clerkship with Justice Thurgood Marshall. Kagan called Marshall "an iconic figure of American law" and said the clerkship had been one of the high points of her life.

Marshall was an incredibly good storyteller, she said, and he taught her about his career, American history and how to be "a great and tactful lawyer."

Kagan said being one of three women in the courtroom was a reflection of the country's progress. "Women are up there on the bench doing the same things as men," she said. "I think that says good things about the kind of society we are.

"None of us are shrinking violets, either."

Alexandra Lydon, a first-year law student who attended the event, said: "It's neat to be in this historical arena, with somebody so important. There was a really exciting atmosphere and feel to the air."

Danielle Bringard, a first-year law student, said of Kagan's attitude, "I love that she had humor, especially from someone really powerful who can be so intimidating."

Amy Whitelaw, another first-year law student, said, "She was real."

Contact staff writer Taylor Kloonan at taylor.kloonan@richmond.edu