3L Balances Music Career with Law School

Rising 3L Adeline Miller’s law school experience is a testament to doing it all.

The Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, native is the incoming editor-in-chief of the Loyola Maritime Law Journal, president of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society, and a member of the Loyola University Advocacy Center’s Alternative Dispute Resolution team. She also sings and plays the fiddle in the Cajun band Amis du Teche and spent the weekend before her final exams playing the local festival circuit at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette.

Adeline started playing the fiddle when she was five years old and first performed at the age of 12. When she started law school, she made a concerted effort to dedicate time to both pursuing a legal career and maintaining her love for music.

“Both were very important to me, and I could only see both as my future career choices,” she said. “I believe the most important thing in law school was to have something that I was deeply passionate about outside of class and exams. Playing music allowed me to keep my roots and identity as a person even when I moved to New Orleans and had to balance so much.” 

As she enters her last year of law school, Adeline said she sees her law and music careers continuing to coexist in her future.

“Louisiana is a truly unique place where we share our cultural identity through outlets like cooking, music, and dance,” she said. “I plan to keep my Cajun roots while also keeping my clients and work a priority.”

And even though she played her first show at such a young age, Adeline said her first time getting cold-called in class was a much more nerve-wracking experience.

“I’ve been playing music my whole life and live for the stage, so law was very new to me and I wasn't sure I was even reading the cases correctly,” Adeline said. “But the phrase ‘practice makes perfect’ applies to law school as well as performing.”