Before he arrived at Yale Law School this fall, Patrick Ma ’27 was immersed in environmental and city governance issues as a policy aide to a Los Angeles City Councilmember.
Ma worked on building decarbonization, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from homes and businesses to help meet California’s long-term climate goals. Ma describes it as a complicated issue, since decarbonization policies can lower emissions but can also make it more expensive to build housing. Despite these challenges, Ma was motivated to work on a project that could help set guidelines far beyond Los Angeles.
“It’s the kind of policy unlikely to succeed if introduced nationally right away,” he said. “But we passed a narrow building decarb policy in our city, which is now providing data for broader reform efforts statewide, and maybe one day might even influence conversations on the federal level.”
Ma’s experience at the City Council and an earlier internship at the California Department of Justice prompted him to think about a career in law. There, he worked on consumer protection cases involving opioid manufacturers and for-profit colleges.
“Those experiences reminded me how people can make a difference through the law,” he said. “Even going back to high school history class, I was interested in how presidents used the law for change. I remember learning about Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights Act and thought it was amazing how the law was used to improve people’s lives.”
As he was applying to law schools, Ma was drawn to Yale because of its “more theoretical, policy-based approach” to law, he said. After attending admitted students programming last spring and finding the students he met to be “kind and welcoming,” he knew he found the right place.
With the first few weeks of law school under his belt, Ma is excited about the opportunity to experience a more liberal arts-oriented curriculum at Yale. He spent much of his time as an undergraduate at UCLA on a pre-med track without many opportunities to take humanities classes.
“I feel like I’m getting that chance now,” he said. “My law classes so far aren’t just about the law. Constitutional Law is like a history class, Contracts has major economics influences, and my Criminal Law class has a big emphasis on psychology.”
Outside the classroom, Ma is enjoying exploring New Haven’s restaurants and playing pickleball at nearby Scantlebury Park. However, he would like other YLS students to know that his reputation for intensity on the court isn’t totally accurate. “I’m not actually super-competitive in pickleball. I just got caught up in the moment last weekend,” he laughed. He’s looking forward to some more friendly sports competition with his fellow law students over the next three years.
September 2024