Pursuing a law degree is an exciting time where students begin to determine what their legal career will look like. Law school provides students with a lot of opportunities and discovery, but it’s not usually an experience loved by many. Associate professor of law Kelly Cahill Timmons is one exception.
“I loved law school,” Timmons said. “That doesn't mean I wasn't stressed out. I tell my students I handled it with very little dignity but with a lot of joy.”
Timmons graduated first in her class from Vanderbilt University. While she pictured herself having a long career practicing law, her uncommon outlook on attending law school made her reconsider. After a federal clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 6th Circuit and a couple of years practicing employment law, Timmons moved to Atlanta to teach at Georgia State Law.
Timmons has been with the College of Law for more than 20 years now. She teaches Torts, Constitutional Tort Litigation and Employment Law. Though the opportunity to teach torts is what motivated Timmons to become a law professor.
“When I was a 1L, my torts class changed the whole way I looked at the world,” Timmons said. “I love teaching it because I think more so than some other first year subjects, it's facts that law students can really connect to right away.”
In her employment law course, Timmons calls on her practice experience to bring real life examples into the classroom. It’s also the focus area of much of her scholarship. She recently published an article in the Penn State Law Review about pre-employment personality tests that many companies use. The tests are marketed as a way to increase diversity and productivity, but Timmons looks into whether they can discriminate against people with mental disabilities.
“Different personality traits have been shown associated with particular mental disabilities,” Timmons said. “So, the question is, do these tests tend to screen out people with depression or anxiety disorder? These are people who could do the job, but because they have a different personality than the standard one that the program has in mind, they're getting cut.”
While she was young when she made the jump to teaching, Timmons hasn’t looked back. Originally, she wasn’t sure what it would be like teaching at a law school where many alums stay in the area. Now, Georgia State Law graduates making up much of the backbone of the Atlanta legal community is one of her favorite things.
“When my younger daughter was in kindergarten, one of the little girls in her class, I taught her father at Georgia State Law,” Timmons said. “Another little girl, I taught both of her parents. I also taught the kindergarten teacher’s husband. I'd go to these kindergarten events and I would see our grads, how cool is that? I can't imagine teaching anywhere else because I’d never want to lose this.”
Written by Mara Thompson