Spotlight on Alfred Acha, 2L

Alfred Acha, 2L

Q. Where are you from?
A.  I came from Cebu City, Philippines but I was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii. I spent thirteen years in the Philippines. I finished my undergrad there too.

Q.What does becoming a lawyer mean to you?
A. The first word that always came to mind when I heard the word 'lawyer' was 'advocate.' Becoming a lawyer for me, means being an advocate and giving your best for your client in seeking justice for your client in an honest and Christian-like manner.

Q. What do you wish you knew before you started law school?

A. This is a very good question to ask. Honestly, I really want to thank the faculty behind the Academic Success Program (ASP), which is a two week summer program for selected incoming 1Ls, because ASP helped me and my colleagues on what to expect on day one of law school from outlining all the way down to test preparation.

Q. What surprised you most about Regent?

A. I will be frank, Regent law was not at the top of my list when I was selecting law schools to apply to but when I participated in a campus visitation program during the summer and got to hear from faculty and current students how good a community Regent is, that interested me and then I decided to apply to Regent Law. When I got accepted to Regent Law, I got some e-mails from Alumni and current students congratulating me on being accepted. It really surprised me how friendly and caring the Regent community is to its prospective students and current students.

Q. How is law school different from your college experience?

A. Very different. Law school is a whole different level of learning than in undergrad. I remember in undergrad in my first year, I once took 32 units and was still able to get by the semester without having to read assignments once in a while. In law school, you have 15 units and you won't be able to understand a class without touching your casebook and reading/briefing the cases. Law school forces you to study and you cannot slack off in your work.

Q. What is your favorite class so far and why?

A.  I would go with Civil Procedure. Professor Madison teaches very well. He adapts his teaching methods to the different learning styles of students. He even shares some of his life experiences as an attorney whenever it is related to the topic of the day.

Q. What kind of law do you hope to practice after graduation?

A.  When I came to Regent, I was focused, and still am, on taking up on family law and I was further encouraged when Professor Kohm mentioned to us in the campus visitation program 'that in family law, we teach our students not to just hand to their clients and have them sign divorce papers but we teach our students to first ask their clients if there is any way to prevent divorce and to work things out between spouses before the divorce papers.'

Q. How would you describe the group of your closest friends found here at Regent?

A. My group of closest friends here in Regent are just great. I met most of my closest friends from ASP. Coming from the Philippines back in 2010, I had to start from scratch and I did not know a lot of people coming into Regent. I would never have imagined that I could have close friends at Regent. One great attribute of Regent is that the community is so close. You will certainly make a lot of friends during the first few weeks of law school. I also love the fact that Regent's community is one of diversity and you get to know people from different walks of life.

Q. How do you prefer to study?

A.  My family and I moved together from the Philippines here to Virginia Beach and we have a house five minutes away from Regent. When I do have long breaks in between classes, I go home to study and eat some lunch. Sometimes when I feel pressed for time, I go to the library and study there during breaks between classes. I do most of my studying at home when I get back from my last class. How long I study depends on how much reading I have to do or whether there is a paper that needs to be worked on.

Q. What is your favorite book of all time and why?

A.  I love to read fiction books. When I was a kid, my favorite books were the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. I loved reading them because whenever I read the books, I always imagined myself in another world where you were in this school full of wizards and you were learning different spells here and there. Since I am a sports fan, their fictional sport of quidditch interested me too.

Q. What is your favorite Bible verse?

A. That would be Matthew 19:26 which states, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ Everyday when I think that I could not do things like doing an objective memorandum, trial brief and especially an appellate brief, I would turn to the Lord in prayer and recite this verse and, in turn, I would be inspired to start doing an objective memorandum and all the major papers that 1Ls have to do for Legal Analysis, Research and Writing. At the end of the day, when you include God in everything you do, nothing is impossible.

Q. If you could meet with anyone alive or dead, who would it be and why?

A. I always wanted to meet Pope John Paul II, now known as Blessed John Paul II. He was a great Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and has done a lot of great things to people around the world. He even celebrated mass in the Philippines two-three times, one was during the World Youth Day. He inspired me because even though he was seriously ill or even after being shot at, he continued to do God's work and to spread the Gospel of the Lord to countries around the world.

Q. If you could have lunch with any faculty member or administrator at Regent who would it be and why?

A.  I would have lunch with Professor Whittico. I owe a lot to Dean Gantt and Professor Whittico. Both of them got me on the right track two weeks ahead of the first day of law school with ASP, especially Professor Whittico who continues to interact and have meetings with us throughout the school year. Whenever I had problems or worries with classes, I would go to her office and ask for some advice and some tips on how to deal them and she would always greet me with a smile and make me feel much better by the time I left her office.

Q. If you had an entire weekend available, what would you do in the Hampton Roads area?

A. There are a lot of things to do in the Hampton Roads area. The first thing I would do is to find out if there are any basketball pick-up games being played at my local church or to play with friends in the area. The next thing is go out with my family, go shopping or maybe watch a movie with them.

Q. Is there anything else you would like your peers or future law students to learn about you?

A. If anyone needs help or has questions that you would like to ask me, I'll be around Regent and I would not mind sitting down and having a chat with you.

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