Pavel Bermudez, 2L
A lifelong fan of superheroes, Pavel Bermudez remembers watching Batman movies as a kid and being mesmerized by the superhero’s pursuit of justice. It was then that he became interested in studying law. “Before coming to Michigan, I considered other careers, such as engineering and programming, but nothing captured me as much as the idea of becoming a lawyer,” he says.
Bermudez comes from a family of immigrants, and he worked up to three jobs during undergrad to afford the cost of tuition. When he was admitted to the Law School, his thoughts turned to how he would pay for his education.
Receiving a scholarship was pivotal in my choice to study at Michigan Law, and the generosity that enabled it will continue to shape my future.”
“Receiving a scholarship was pivotal in my choice to study at Michigan Law, and the generosity that enabled it will continue to shape my future,” he says.” The Law School’s mission, goals, and values are in tune with his own. Bermudez says he wants a great education and a great job, but he wants to be conscious of the world that he is a part of and do what he can to help those in need. “Everything that Michigan values, I value,” he says.
By the time he arrived in Ann Arbor, he had been waiting to study law for many years, and after his 1L year he spent the summer at Dykema in Detroit. One of their clients, a nonprofit in Texas, needed an information database showing how law enforcement agencies utilize a provision that allows officers to cite and release people charged with misdemeanors instead of arresting them. “After two semesters of reading case law and judicial opinions, I was in the thick of it,” he says. “It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.”