Q&A with alumnus Diriki T. Geuka, J.D.’17
Q. Tell us a little about yourself, your education, and your work.
A. I am an avid anime fan, high fantasy and science fiction reader, and dog lover. I graduated from Florida A&M University in 2013 with a degree in History Education, and I am a Lifetime Member of its alumni association. I taught middle school prior to attending Stetson Law. I was very active in law school student organizations before graduating in 2017. Currently, I am a Corporate Associate in the Atlanta office of Townsend & Lockett, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and other corporate matters for Fortune 500 entities, investment funds, and startups.
Q. How was your law education and your overall experience at Stetson Law significant in what you do now?
A. The biggest value of my Stetson Law education was the school’s firm commitment to ensuring that students really understood the law. We really mint practice-ready graduates. Oftentimes the focus is on our advocacy offerings, but I think we overlook just how well the school prepares graduates to have a deep grasp of many areas of the law. Still, concepts from lectures by Professor Peter Lake and Professor Candace Zierdt stick with me today. I was never quite as talented of a litigator as many of my peers, but when I began practicing law I found that I was well-prepared for a transaction-based career.
Q. Was there a particular class, professor, or activity that is a treasured memory from law school?
A. Well, as far as classes, I really enjoyed Pre-Trial Practice with Professor Dorothea Beane and Adjunct Professor Ted Karatinos. Since Civil Procedure and Evidence were both subjects that I struggled with conceptually, Pre-Trial Practice gave me a second shot at wrapping my head around those concepts just in time for the bar exam, and thereafter, practice. Professor Judith Scully will always stick out to me for how emotionally intelligent she handled complex, hot button subjects in all the classes I took with her (I took three, I believe). As for an activity I treasured, it would unquestionably have to be the Student Bar Association. I probably experienced some of my proudest moments and learned some of the best (but tough) leadership lessons in it.
Q. You began giving to Stetson Law very soon after you graduated. Why did you first decide to start giving to Stetson Law?
A. Simply put, I wanted to pay it forward. I received a substantial scholarship when I committed to attend Stetson Law. I was so thankful for the award that I made a promise to myself as a 1L that if I could, I would help someone else out in a similar fashion.
Q. From the beginning you have been making monthly recurring gifts. Why did you set up your giving in this way?
A. Recurring monthly gifts just made sense. As a new attorney, life expenses like home costs, annual holidays and birthdays, pets, a social life, and travel plans add up. I knew that giving to Stetson Law was a goal of mine, and I wanted to give as much as I reasonably could. Breaking up a larger gift in bite-sized chunks made giving easier than it otherwise would be since I was able to budget around the donation and it did not significantly interfere with any endeavor throughout the year. I also felt like having the option of making recurring monthly donations was a great way to give back in an area I was passionate about since my donations would support the law school’s scholarship initiatives.
Q. Now you are the youngest recurring monthly donor and Dean’s Circle member. Why is that important to you?
A. I actually had not realized that I was the youngest recurring monthly donor and Dean’s Circle member until now! Now that I know this, I am even happier that I have been fortunate enough to give back! To me, this is important because time is valuable, so even if another young attorney cannot afford to give a lot, giving small amounts over time can compound into significant philanthropy for the institution over the course of one’s career. I started with much smaller gifts. Also, I hope more attorneys decide to support the law school with the intent of enhancing it. Every top-tier institution in the U.S. has one thing in common: committed, proud, and supportive graduates. We are the most immediately improvable metric for the law school, so increasing our alumni giving rate is a top goal for us, and I am ecstatic to play my part early in my career.
Q. What do you think is the impact of your philanthropy/giving to Stetson Law?
A. I hope that the donations I make, most of which are geared toward scholarship initiatives, help ease someone’s educational expenses. I have a lot of pride in Stetson Law and fully expect that it will blossom into a more nationally recognized law school. I know that reducing students’ debt load will enable our graduates to take opportunities when they enter the workforce that they might not otherwise be empowered to take.
Also, I am competitive. When I realized that giving to the school could help the school help me, I got pumped about doing my part. I do not believe that there is any opportunity available to another law school’s graduate that should not also be equally as available to a Stetson Law graduate. Currently, there are some considerations that do not always give our graduates a competitive advantage, and I believe philanthropy can remove some of those barriers for our students. Thus, it is incumbent on us each to keep pouring into the institution. Our predecessors made it into the institution that we love so much today, so we should take our charge seriously of making it grow to a better institution for those in the future.
Q. What would you say to students who may not be able to donate much at this time?
A. Well, I certainly understand the reasons why a new graduate or current student might not plan on donating, especially soon after graduation. First, I think there is a perception that a university gift must be a significant, newsworthy sum of money. Those donations are certainly trajectory shifting and needed, but there is also power in aggregating small gifts from a broad coalition of supporters that we should not discount. Second, law school is already expensive—life is expensive—and many graduates have trouble finding compensation immediately upon graduation that allows them to feel comfortable allocating any money to non-essential expenses, even those as important as giving back. If someone is in this second situation, I would say that I certainly understand the hesitancy to give at this time.
Notwithstanding the above, there is another point to consider. Each Stetson Law graduate is like a shareholder in the institution. Enhancing the economic profile of the law school increases our equity in each of our degrees and will pay dividends to us in our personal and professional endeavors for years to come. We should all view it as a goal to ensure that our programming, rank, and average debt of graduates improve year over year. Those improvements have costs, but the costs are certainly worth it. We are supporting the law school to enhance the experience of not only students that may be judges, successful law firm partners, and government counsels, but also future civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and stars in whatever new industries have yet to be created. I believe that if enough of us support Stetson Law, even in a small way, we are taking an important leap toward making Stetson Law more competitive and a greater national contender, thus providing better prospects for us all.
Q. What would you say to younger alumni who are considering joining you in the recurring monthly gifts of $83.33 per month to also make the impact of a Dean’s Circle member?
A. I would say do it! There are many ways to donate. Unrestricted gifts give the institution the flexibility to allocate funds to the areas of need that it deems to be the most important. Scholarship gifts of course help make the dream of attaining a quality law school education possible for so many students. Gifts to our advocacy programs help us continue our legacy of producing the nation’s best practice-ready lawyers. I would encourage anyone in the Stetson Law family to choose an area that you are passionate about!
Q. What are your goals in future philanthropy with Stetson Law?
A. A goal of mine is to one day be able to make a gift to Stetson Law that is the equivalent of one full-tuition scholarship and seat deposit, at the then-current tuition rate. That would be a full circle moment for me to be able to assist a deserving student attend Stetson Law for free (just with continued hard work). In the meantime, I plan to continue my monthly, recurring donations.
Visit our Giving page today to set up your recurring gift or to make a one-time donation.
Post date: Oct. 21, 2021
Media contact: Kate Bradshaw
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