Student Bar Association

Taylor Yocom: Hey everyone, this is Taylor Yocom from WashU Law and producer of this season of our podcast, Applying Yourself. Today I’m joined by one of our admissions ambassadors, Natalie Mislabel. Natalie is also president of the Student Bar Association at WashU Law. Natalie, welcome! Can you share a bit about yourself and what year you’re in and where you’re from? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah, absolutely. I’m excited to be here. So as she said, my name is Natalie Mislabel and I am the Student Bar Association president. I’m a 2L actually from St. Louis, Missouri, about 45 minutes outside of St. Louis. I went to undergrad at Miami University, so it’s kind of been fun to come back to law school and really just see a different part of St. Louis than I was used to growing up. So I’m excited to be back and I love WashU. 

Taylor Yocom: Amazing. So I guess for students applying to law school who might not know, like, what is SBA? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah, so SBA, that is our Student Bar Association. It’s basically the law school’s student government and we represent the student body, we advocate for the student needs to administration. We work really closely with the dean of the law school and we really work to create a sense of community at WashU Law. I explain it to people as somewhat a hub for student life, professional development, and social connection. 

Taylor Yocom: Amazing. And so I guess, broadly, how do students get involved? What was your story on how you got involved too? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah, so I kind of applied to SBA on a whim, but basically you run for a class representative position as a 1L or 2L transfer rep. And then we have different committees that are involved within SBA, but you run within your own class. So if a 1L wants to run, you are being voted in by the 1L class. And I kind of did it on a whim, you know, I was trying to get involved in different organizations at WashU and just really felt tied to SBA and the people I met and got to talk to throughout our organization fair that we did in the fall at WashU. 

So I started by running for a spot and I just kind of wanted to make sure that my voice was being heard and that I could be a good advocate for my class as a 1L rep. And then from there, I just found myself more engaged and building connections and really fostering that. That sense of community at WashU, which eventually kind of made me want to run for president. 

Taylor Yocom: Amazing. So it sounds like SBA has board members that are elected, but anyone can really get involved with the activities, right? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yes, absolutely. So even our meetings, we have weekly meetings, and these are fully open to the public, so anyone can come and see kind of what’s on top of mind of SBA if they want to propose something. We’re always willing to hear new voices, but SBA does so many different events, and we have like barristers in the spring and Halloween in the fall. And then we also just host like every week, we do a bar review at different spots in St. Louis. 

And so we don’t really foster that community within WashU and make it feel like it’s not just about academics, but it’s also about like finding friends and really enjoying what WashU and what St. Louis has to offer. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah, and like what’s your favorite, like, SBA event or experience? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah, so as I said, we have what’s called Barristers Ball. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah. 

Natalie Mislabel: And that’s basically law school prom. That’s the understanding of it. It’s a really fun tradition. You get to dress up in long dresses. The guys wear suits, and it’s really just a night off from studying that celebrates what everyone has accomplished so far and understanding that law school is really hard, but having a night off is always the best time. 

So this past year, we had it at the MLS stadium here in St. Louis City Park. I think it’s now Energizer Park, but we all dress up. It’s a big event. I think like around 500 people attend, so it’s just such a good time and it’s a really great way to see people outside of class and really continue to foster those connections, not inside the law school building. 

Taylor Yocom: Amazing. And so now you are the president. What was that, like, what was that process like? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah. So kind of similar to running for 1L rep. Same idea, same process. You are running this time instead of within the class, everyone in the law school can vote. So that includes 1Ls, 2Ls, LLMs, and even the outgoing 3Ls all can vote for student body president. 

I kind of decided I wanted to run again on a whim. I really loved that’s what SBA stood for, and I wanted to continue to make an impact. And I was kind of between president and treasurer, and I was like, let’s go for it. You know, let’s try for president. 

So I ran for president after talking with the last year’s president, and we had a presidential debate, which is always a little scary, but kind of fun, I guess. But I just decided I wanted to continue to be a strong advocate within the WashU community. So I decided to run, you know, got elected, which was really exciting. And I am just so excited to continue with some of my goals and visions that I had as a 1L and kind of transform those into now being president. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah. Speaking of those goals and visions, what is your vision as SBA president? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah. So SBA is kind of like a black box at a lot of schools. And it’s like, what is SBA? We just had our organization fair, and people were coming up to me, 1Ls, and being like, what is, you know, SBA, Student Bar Association? And I just really want to make it a more transparent community and more student-centered. 

A lot of people don’t come to our meetings outside of the people that are elected onto the Student Bar Association. So I really want to make our committee, like, our meetings more widespread and more attended from outside of just the elected positions so that people can voice their opinions. You don’t have to be elected to be on SBA. You can come to our meetings and still give your insight. So I really want to make sure that we’re getting that out there. 

And this year, we created an organization page that has all of the different events that WashU has throughout the day, and we added SBA’s weekly meeting to that so that if you were a 1L, 2L, 3L, you can come and kind of see what’s going on and see what we’re going to be talking about to see if it’s going to interest you. 

So yeah, I’m just really trying to become more of an advocate for what students really need. We have one of the really fun, exciting things that we have coming up is wellness. So we’re really big on wellness this year, and we reached out to a Pilates studio, actually. 

Taylor Yocom: I know! 

Natalie Mislabel: A Pilates studio. Kind of like a solid core idea. Yeah, in St. Louis, and we’re going to do a Pilates class with anyone that wants to go from SBA as well as the entire student body. So we’re really trying to promote wellness and realizing that law school is hard, but that there’s so many exciting things that are offered within the building, but also outside the building that we want to bring everyone, SBA and outside 1Ls and 2Ls into. 

Taylor Yocom: Amazing. Is there anything else you’d like to share about Student Bar Association? 

Natalie Mislabel: Yeah. I would just like to share that, like, feel free to jump in, you know, as a 1L, as a 2L, put yourself out there. It’s really scary and really intimidating. I know for me to run as just a 1L rep, like, you are putting your headshot on a flyer, you know, and showing people, and you’re like, what, three weeks into school. It’s, who are you at this point? You know, what, what are your goals for WashU? You know, I didn’t even have my goals for my career goals at that point, but it’s, so it’s really intimidating, but it has been by far the best decision I’ve made. 

And I think SBA is really unique in the aspect that you’re bringing all these 1Ls, 2Ls, 3Ls, LLMs all together in one room every week. So it’s a great way to get to know people outside of just your class. A lot of times you’re taking especially as a 1L, you’re taking classes only with 1Ls. So it really expands the community at WashU and brings everyone into the same room, so you’re getting to embrace a ton of different perspectives. You can ask people about classes. It’s just really a great environment that allows you to connect with more people than just your class. 

Taylor Yocom: Amazing. And so we love to end our episodes with chatting a little bit about St. Louis. And you’re from here. 

Natalie Mislabel: I am. 

Taylor Yocom: What’s your favorite thing to recommend to do in St. Louis? 

Natalie Mislabel: Okay, yeah. So I have a few things actually, just because I love St. Louis. So starting with the Hill, I recommend the Hill entirely. And for people that don’t know what the Hill is, it’s basically a spot of a ton of Italian restaurants all right next to each other within walking distance. So I love to go grab a drink there and then like get dinner right after. I actually have a reservation at like Charlie’s Gito this upcoming week. So… I love going to the Hill. 

And then one of my other favorite things to do is go to Forest Park, and specifically, I was an ice skater growing up. 

Taylor Yocom: Yes. 

Natalie Mislabel: And in the winter, Forest Park has an outdoor ice rink, and it’s outdoor in the big city, so you can look up and see all the lights. It’s in the Central West End. And it is so pretty, so fun, and a great way to get outside, get outside of the law school building and, like, see a different part of St. Louis. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the winter. 

Taylor Yocom: Yes, love it. Thank you so much, Natalie. It was so great to hear more about SBA and for our prospective students who might be applying. Natalie is one of our admissions ambassadors who has consultation hours open. You can sign up to chat with our students just about advice on your application, life in law school. And if you have any sort of questions, feel free to reach out to us at applylaw, all one word, at wustl.edu. Thanks, everyone.