10 Questions. Double Jeopardy!

• Author: Jenny B. Davis
• Pages: 12-13

10 QUESTIONS

Double Jeopardy!

This voting rights advocate and game show champ

is ready with the right answers

BY JENNY B. DAVIS

If “Who is Zach Newkirk?” ever

became an answer to a Jeopardy!

question, writers for the legendary

television quiz show would have

plenty of angles to choose from.

For example, they could go with this:

This Washington,

D.C.-based voting

rights lawyer, a

six-time Jeopardy!

champion in 2020 ,

took home nearly

$125,000 in winnings.

Or this one:

This lawyer might have the most

unusual winning streak in the

show’s history: His run started

with legendary host Alex Trebek,

who died last year; got interrupt-

ed by a global pandemic; and end-

ed with guest host Ken Jennings, a

former Jeopardy! champion.

Another option:

In addition to appearing on

Jeopardy! last year, this Perkins

Coie associate was involved with

a lawsuit against then-President

Donald Trump on behalf of those

injured during the 2020 Black

Lives Matter protests in Lafay-

ette Square.

OK, maybe that last one is a bit longer

than the traditional format. But the

point is, Newkirk had a challenging

2020—and the challenges are far from

over. Threats to voting rights continue

across the country, and at some point,

he may have to start preparing for a

return to TV to compete on the next

Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.

How did you go from law clerk to

Jeopardy! contestant?

I was clerking for a federal judge in

Tallahassee, Florida, and he had one

of those page-a-day calendars with

Jeopardy! questions. Every day, he

would shout out the day’s question, and

when I would answer, he would say,

“You should try out for Jeopardy!” So

I did. I took an online quiz, and I was

invited to an audition in Savannah,

Georgia. That was a fun day. There

were maybe 50 or 60 of us. The audi-

tion process included another written

test, and then we played a mock game

with a buzzer to see how quick you are,

whether you can always respond in the

form of a question and how telegenic

you are. They give you a very broad

window to be noti ed, like 18 months.

I had sort of forgotten about it, but one

day I got a phone call from Culver City,

California. My clerkship had ended, I

was working at my  rm in D.C., and I

had been calling all these random peo-

ple across the country because we were

looking for witnesses. Turns out, the

call was from Jeopardy! That was late

February, so I only had about 20 days

to prepare.

Did you just start cramming like

you were a 1L again?

Some people got very intense about pre-

paring, but I was more casual about it. I

watched some old episodes on stream-

ing services. There are old games online,

so my wife read me questions from the

games. She also had taken the online

Jeopardy! test and was invited for an

audition, but at that time, she was

eight months pregnant. I keep saying,

“You should try again, and we could

do a husband-wife run.” It’s been done

before! Also, whenever I had downtime,

I read Wikipedia. To some extent, I

think about the questions I missed and

the money—real money—that I left on

the table. But maybe I should focus on

what I got right.

Any favorite categories or least-

favorite categories?

Favorites are history, geography, poli-

tics. And de nitely 11th Circuit election

law cases! I think Jeopardy! contestants

are infamously not too knowledgeable

about sports, and of course, there’s the

dreaded opera category. I know some

sports, but there are other sports I don’t

know much about, like basketball. I

don’t know much more about it other

than Michael Jordan was very good,

but one of my good friends is “training”

me on the subject.

Do you have any sweet plans for

your winnings? A vacation? A

fancy watch?

No, we are saving for a house. Then

there’s the giant black hole of law

school loans.

I know your dad passed away

shortly before your episodes

began to air.

I grew up watching Jeopardy! with him.

He was already in the hospital, and I

had gone home to Florida to watch the

 rst episode with him, but he passed

two days before it aired. But I was able

to tell him about it. So at least he knew

the outcome and the dollar amount.

Last year was a tough year for so many

reasons, but on the other side, having

Jeopardy! to go back to was something

Revered

Jeopardy! host

Alex Trebek

with attorney

Zach Newkirk, a

six-time winner

ABA JOURNAL | JUNE–JULY 2021

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Inter Alia | 10 QUESTIONS

Photo courtesy of Zach Newkirk

ABAJ J E-J Y rA PM