Asked & Answered: Looking to make a difference Matheson ready to see results.

• Date: 24 May 2022
• Author: Teske, Ali

Byline: Ali Teske

Following her military service, Ellen Matheson was ready to make a difference through a career in the law. She graduated on Sunday from Marquette Law School and will be serving as a law clerk to a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Matheson received her undergraduate degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point before serving active duty for five years. She spent two separate rotations in Korea and, during that time, read Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. The statistics related to the representation of landlords versus tenants in the court system influenced her decision to go to law school after her service.

During her time at Marquette, she secured a judicial internship with Judge Diane Schwerm Sykes of the Seventh Circuit and a summer clerkship with Foley & Lardner and spent time working with Norhwestern Mutual.

Matheson recently sat down with the Wisconsin Law Journal to discuss her law school journey and her hopes for her career.

WLJ: You come from a military background. What made you want to pursue a career in the law?

EM: I was nearing the end of military commitment, which was five years. The five year mark is the first time when I and many of my classmates were considering if we wanted to stay in for a bit longer or what we wanted to...