Spotlight on 2L Josiah Lindstrom

Q. Where are you from?
A. Yemli Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

Q. How will you spend your summer? 

Josiah Lindstrom, 2L
Undergraduate School: University of Minnesota
Major: Political Science
Minor: Business Management

A. I will be working at Davis Law Group, P.C. in Chesapeake Va., developing business ideas for Regent Law School, and learning to surf on weekends. I also plan on reading The Will to Power by Nietzsche, finish Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France so I can start reading Lenin, peruse used bookstores in the Hampton Roads area, and read more of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. I also want to find somewhere to start singing again. Unfortunately, singing Mozart and Fauré in the Regent Village tends to upset my neighbors, and I have already been kicked out of the Regent Library piano room for singing Coldplay. Perhaps my new housing arrangement will provide a venue.

Q. How did you know that Regent Law is the right law school for you? 
A. After visiting the campus, it just felt like the right school. I can’t really explain it completely. It felt a little bit like coming home, yet I had never been to Virginia Beach before. But it felt so right that I stopped and asked myself how it could possibly be that right. I took a second (and third) look; and then I just decided that I was making excuses and had to give it a shot. I have not been disappointed.

Q. What do you wish you knew before you started law school? 
A. I wish I was an expert in legal writing before starting law school. That would have been nice. It would still be nice.

Q. What surprised you most about Regent? 
A. The diversity of thought. My peers and I talk about everything I talked about at my secular undergraduate school, and we also get to talk about faith.

Q. How would you describe your closest friends at Regent? 
A. My closest friends at Regent are people that I would be honored to work with professionally, trust to give honest advice, and want to spend the rest of my life interacting with.

Q. What does becoming a lawyer mean to you? 
A. Becoming a lawyer means gaining a skill set that entitles me to continue learning and meeting people that I want to spend the rest of my life in a professional network with.

An aerial shot of Yemili Village, where Josiah grew up. 

Q. What kind of law do you hope to practice after graduation? 
A. Transactional Law. I want to help give concrete form to business ideas.

Q. What is your favorite class so far and why? 
A. Torts and/or Contracts. I am still waiting for final grades in both. So the final judgment will probably be in hindsight based on a contextual indicator that colors my perceptions. In all honesty, I would have to flip a coin to decide. I like both classes because I have found them both to be directly related to my transactional business development interests. Oh, and I got heads. That would be Torts. Sorry, Professor Pryor.

Q. How do you prefer to study? 
A. In a coffee shop.

Q. What kinds of extra-curricular activities are you involved with? 
A. I play Ultimate Frisbee with peers a couple of times a week and also enjoy running.

Q. What is your favorite book and why? 
A. That is a hard question. My favorite fantasy book is the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch by Terry Brooks because he makes flying airships WORK! My favorite historical fiction book is the Killer Angels by Michael Shaara because he made Chamberlain’s desperate (and innovative!) bayonet charge at Gettysburg come alive. My favorite philosophical book is Miracles by C.S. Lewis because he helped me discover an epistemological foundation for my faith and creativity. My favorite children’s book is Tell Me the Secrets: Treasures for Eternity by Max Lucado. My favorite academic book is the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell because he makes Alexis de Tocqueville’s observations relevant to the latter half of the 20th century. My favorite teen fiction book is the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling because she is an excellent emotive writer. My favorite novel is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo because he has something wise to say about everything you have faced and will face in life.

Q. What is your favorite Bible verse? 
A. John 14:6 when Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the light.”

Q. If you had an entire weekend available, what would you do in the Hampton Roads area? 
A. I would round up some law school friends and go to the beach. Swimming. Walking around the strip. All day. Then maybe we could draw straws to pick a church to go to on Sunday. Then the beach again. Or, we might just stay at the beach. It would be an in-the-moment decision.

Q. Is there anything else you would like your peers and future law students to learn about you? 
A. I am not an atypical law student. Nothing I say should be taken as dispositive on the nature of Regent University in general or Regent Law School in particular.