Tyler Somes
"I was thrilled to be the class of 2018 G. Rollie White Public Service Scholarship. In coming to law school, I hoped to acquire new skills that would make me effective as an advocate for social justice. Because of the support of the G. Rollie White Trust, I had the opportunity to gain these skills in the incredible learning environment that Texas Law fosters. I look forward to further developing these skills in private practice, both as a litigator and through pro bono opportunities."
Tyler Kasperek Somes is an associate at Vinson & Elkins in Washington, D.C. where he works in the commercial litigation practice. Previously, he served as a law clerk to Judge Richard Wesley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Rochester, New York. Immediately after law school, Tyler worked for two years as a litigation associate at Vinson & Elkins in Austin.
At Texas Law, Tyler was a member of the Public Interest Law Association, the Justice Center's student advisory board, and led the student organizers of the fall 2017 Change It Up!, Texas Law's annual social justice orientation. He worked as a research assistant for Professor Julius Getman on a book about labor law and participated in the Transnational Worker Rights Clinic. Tyler was also a 2017 recipient of the Major League Baseball Players Association's Michael Weiner Scholarship for Labor Studies.
Tyler spent the summer after his 1L year working for the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of New York in Rochester. The summer after his 2L year he split his time between Vinson & Elkins and Deats, Durst & Owen, a union-side labor and employment firm in Austin.
Before law school, Tyler worked as a union organizer for the Service Employees International Union and a paralegal at Legal Services NYC.