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Laura Corcoran
August 2009
For the month of August,
the VLP has
the distinct pleasure of
announcing
Laura Corcoran as our
Outstanding
Law Student Volunteer.
Laura is
currently between her
first and second
years at the James E.
Rogers School
of Law here at the U of
A, yet she is
far from a
run-of-the-mill law student.
Laura has been a valuable
participant
in our Bankruptcy,
Guardianship,
Domestic Relations and
Self-Service
Clinics, however, her
skill sets extend
far beyond the legal
field.
Originally born in
Minnesota, Laura considers herself “a native Tucsonan at heart”
since moving here as a
one-year-old. During her undergraduate education at the
U of A, Laura focused on
the mathematics of data encryption algorithms and was
mentored by Dr. Larry
Grove. Laura graduated Magna cum laude with honors
earning a Bachelor of
Science in Mathematics and minoring in Computer
Science. Her honor’s
thesis on Public Key Cryptography, a “popular data
encryption,” catapulted
her into a position with the National Security Agency
with full funding for
graduate work at the University of Maryland, College Park.
There, she “researched
the mathematics behind other complex encryption
methods,” and finished a
Masters of Arts in Mathematics in 2002.
It seems that Laura has
excelled at each endeavor she has attempted. While in
the Arizona Army National
Guard, Laura served in a variety of computer and
telecommunications roles,
achieving first and second place in various battalion
drill team and weapons
competitions, as well as being recognized as a
Distinguished Honor
Graduate in the U.S. Army Signal School. She went on to
work in a local law
office where, aside from conducting interviews and aiding in
legal research, she
designed and implemented a new payroll application and
worked on improving the
efficiency of the office “through space management
and information systems
redesign.”
At the National Security
Agency, Laura served in a vast array of capacities too
long to list in this
article. However, among these, she “discovered critical security
flaws in the Windows and
Cisco operating systems,” prompting Microsoft to
“modify three operating
systems and release a world-wide system patch.”
Furthermore, she
“provided network security recommendations for the White
House Communications
Agency and other government networks” and “authored
a 200-page illustrated
guide for a security product used by US military personnel
in the field.”
During her time with the NSA, Laura received a number of honors,
including the NSA
Meritorious Service Recognition Award, the NSA Science and
Technology Literature
Award, and the NSA Adjunct Faculty Recognition Award
for Outstanding
Curriculum Development.
Laura then went on to
work at Raytheon Missile Systems as a Senior Systems
Engineer in the System
Test Division. There, she worked to improve accuracy of
missile flight
simulators, reduce project expenses, and identify “previously
unknown structure in
data, allowing for new processing techniques to be applied
to analysis” and leading
to a completely new approach to the project.
Laura continued using her
mathematics and computer security skills as she
worked at the University
of Arizona as an adjunct instructor in the Math
Department and as a
Senior Network Analyst. At the Rogers School of Law, she
has received the Dean’s
Achievement Award Scholarship and has made the
Dean’s List during her
first year. She has also served as UA Law Chapter
Secretary and So. AZ
Chapter Board Member of the American Civil Liberties
Union, where she
“provided volunteer document review for discovery request on
law enforcement TASER
use. In addition, she “provided volunteer assistance in
policy review projects”
to the president of the Arizona Board of Regents.
Though it’s hard to
believe, Laura still finds time to volunteer with our program.
When asked what made her
choose to work with the VLP, she noted “Where
else could a first year law
student get client interaction, court appearance
experience, one-on-one mentoring
from a variety of local attorneys, camaraderie
of fellow volunteers, and
satisfaction from directly helping people solve personal
legal problems?” She went
on to say “I suspect there is no other experience in
town that offers such a wide
range of exposure. Add to that the flexibility of
creating your own schedule and
zero summer school tuition costs. VLP is an
amazing opportunity
professionally, socially, and economically.” As the most
important thing she has learned
while volunteering, Laura cited the fact that
“thirty minutes of one
attorney’s time can make a world of difference to someone
trying to navigate
through the court system on their own.”
Free time? Laura
somehow still has some, and chooses to spend it beach
hopping down the east
coast of the Baja peninsula with her family, swimming
with the Ford Aquatics
Master’s Swim Team, biking around Tucson on a regular
basis, and hiking in
Sabino Canyon once a week. She has also participated in
the Tucson Triathlon
Series for the past three years and loves to shop at thrift
stores “because it’s like
a treasure hunt for grownups.”
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Past Outstanding Volunteer
Student Awards |
