2006 POINT SCHOLARS

Derek Mize

University of Cincinnati Law School

James Derek grew up in Mississippi, was the child of a single mother and is a first-generation college student. He graduated high school in the top 1% of his class and was also Mississippi’s Most Outstanding Student-Athlete in 1999. In high school, James Derek won 11 state swimming titles and set five state records.

At the University of Cincinnati, he was the Most Outstanding Freshman on the men’s varsity team and was a finalist at the Conference USA Championships in 2000. James Derek came out that year and chose to leave the team after his freshman year. He graduated college with a Bachelor’s in English in 2003 and, after taking a year off of school in New Orleans, LA, began graduate work in the field of gender and sexuality studies. Before law school, he attended courses at the Sexuality Institute at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, taught undergraduate courses in women and sexuality and took positions on non-profit boards such as Equality Ohio, Equality Cincinnati and GLSEN Cincinnati.

James Derek Mize is currently a third-year joint degree student in Law and Women’s studies at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. His Masters thesis research focused on anti-harassment legislation and postmodern notions of power. He has received numerous awards for his academic performance and has the honor of working with several state and federal judges, including the Honorable Deborah Batts (S.D.N.Y.) and the Honorable Michael Barrett (S.D. Ohio). Following the completion of his studies in December 2008, he will join the firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York City where he will practice corporate litigation.