Despite growing up in the area with the highest concentration of quality colleges and universities in the United States, Sasha E. Polonsky decided to head west — way west — for her undergraduate work.
She forsook Boston for the sunny climes of Palo Alto, Calif., and Stanford University.
“(Stanford) seemed like it would be the most fun and have the most innovative curriculum,” Polonsky says. “The East Coast certainly offers a lot by way of education, but the palm trees seduced me away from ivy and brick.
“California was a big change and a different lifestyle. It seemed like a chance for an adventure.”
It’s that sort of outside-the-box thinking that also led her to concentrate solely on law at Washington University. After spending three years in strategy consulting in California, Polonsky decided to attend law school and will graduate with a juris doctoris today.
“The research aspect of strategy consulting was very interesting to me,” Polonsky says. “I liked interfacing with clients, explaining growth opportunities and having to reconcile data from several different sources. Less interesting to me was operating from a position of little expertise.
“That experience led me to believe the research aspects and the analytical aspects of law would be a better fit.”
So she applied to Washington University, ostensibly to do a joint-degree program to earn a J.D. and a master’s in East Asian Studies in Arts & Sciences.
But soon thereafter, she decided to focus completely on law. And it turned out to be a good decision.
In her time at the University, she has served as editor in chief of the Washington University Law Quarterly; was a graduate student representative to the Board of Trustees; served on the moot court team; and won the Golden Gavel award for the best oral argument in the Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Competition.
She also served on an advisory committee in the search for a law school dean after former Dean Joel Seligman, J.D., resigned to become president of the University of Rochester.
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And on the side, she found time to serve as coordinator of a Red Cross program in International Humanitarian Law — the only program of its kind in the United States, and one that is being looked at by other schools as a model program.
“Sasha Polonsky is one of the most remarkable law students whom I have ever met,” Seligman says. “During her first few weeks at the School of Law, I became aware of her background in strategic consulting. She soon began working with the law school strategic planning effort, chaired by Dan Keating, and made marvelous contributions.
“Over time, I have also come to appreciate her acumen for the law. She has been a terrific law student and will be an outstanding lawyer.”
Looking back on her time at the University, she realizes things are slowly falling into place.
“In retrospect, I can reconcile my path as part of a master plan, although I never knew exactly where the path would lead,” Polonsky says.
“Law was a perfect fit with my learning style. The interactive nature of law instruction requires constant class preparation. We all have to be accountable for what we say.
“The performance pressure was a huge motivator, which I didn’t have in college (as an undergraduate).”
Her accountability will be put to the test, as she has been offered a job by Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York — the same firm she interned with in summer 2005.
However, the firm will delay the offer for one year so she can take advantage of a rare opportunity. Following Commencement, Polonsky will clerk for Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
“She’s from South Africa and was very active in student rallies and protests against apartheid in the 1960s,” Polonsky says. “She takes a very interesting approach as a justice in Massachusetts in terms of interpreting the state constitution in the context of rights and civil liberties, which is more expansive than the United States Constitution.
“I’m really looking forward to it. Justice Marshall is a judicial standout, and defends very progressive decisions as strict interpretation of the law. I expect to learn a great deal from her about life as well as law.”