by Beth Barbee, Law Communications Coordinator

St.Mary's University holds a special place in the heart of two former Rattler athletes and current law students. Not only did they find their academic home here, but their life partners and the pathway to their futures.

Collanne Bramblett-West is a native of the small Texas town of Clint just outside of El Paso. She came to St. Mary's as a transfer student from West Texas A&M University interested in joining the Lady Rattler volleyball team. At St. Mary's she found her place on the volleyball court as well as a home in a close-knit community.

"I just really liked St. Mary's," said Collanne. "It was a smaller community, more personal, not a cookie-cutter program like the bigger schools. There was just a different feeling here."

She played volleyball for two years and finished her undergraduate degree in English communication-arts while working as a student assistant coach. All his life, Christopher West grew up in Killeen playing different sports. A tennis player, he was recruited to St. Mary's from Temple Junior College. It was the love of sports that eventually led him to the love of his life, Collanne. Chris was a member of the ‘Spandex Crew'— a rowdy group of students that followed the volleyball team and boisterously cheered for them at all the games. Collanne was one of those volleyball players. Chris and Collanne met, fell in love, and were married on St. Patrick's Day in 2007, a year after her graduation. When he wasn't helping to coach the tennis team as an assistant, Chris was completing his degree in biology with a chemistry minor and doing prostate cancer research at St. Mary's. He later went on to the University of Texas Health Science Center, working his way towards a doctorate in molecular medicine.

Though Chris was knee-deep in a medical career, those solitary days in the lab didn't feel right to him. He was instead inspired by the Bramblett family's legal legacy and how they all seemed invigorated by their careers. Collanne's parents Coll and Mary Anne Bramblett and her grandfather C.R. "Kit" Bramblett all are graduates of St. Mary's School of Law, classes of 1980, 1982 and 1975, respectively. Her father is an El Paso lawyer, her mother a state judge for the 41st District Court, and her grandfather the Hudspeth County Attorney.

"After spending more time with my wife's parents, who are both lawyers and really enjoy the field, it solidified that law was the right field for me," said Chris. "I can debate and interact with people, exactly what I was missing in the lab."

The newlyweds decided that their future would begin with three years of legal study at St. Mary's School of Law. A new marriage and a full-time course load are daunting tasks on their own. But the pair of self-proclaimed overachievers decided that if they both were to tackle law school, they would do it simultaneously and side-by-side.

"It is beneficial for us to be in this together," said Chris. "We see one another a lot, we know what the other is doing and going through. We don't get tired of one another and we still love our date nights – when we get to take them. Going to law school together was one of the smartest decisions we've made as a couple. The competitiveness drives us to be better."

According to Collanne, the competitive streak can be trying at times.

"Obviously, we are both extremely competitive," she explains. "That has been the hardest to deal with. Starting out, we took the same classes, studied together, put in the same amount of work, so if one of us scored higher than the other, that could be a problem."

As they begin to hone different interests, they also take different courses but still spend time together at school and at the library. The competitive fire burning in both of these students always pushes them to be the best, a quality they attribute to their years in athletics.

"Law school is a very competitive atmosphere – many things I've learned playing sports have helped me here. Most importantly to be humble, you're not always going to win," said Collanne.

"Student athletes, especially at St. Mary's, have a rigorous study schedule," Chris continues. "It really teaches you how to work hard and focus. Being a student athlete, succeeding at both, and meeting my wife have been my greatest accomplishments."

Today, Chris and Collanne are preparing for their third year of law school as they take on yet another challenge hand-in-hand – editing St. Mary's Law Journal together.

St. Mary's Law Journal is one of the country's most frequently cited law reviews. A Washington and Lee University survey ranked the Journal as the 13th most cited law review in 2008 out of 1,443 law reviews. Student staff writers and members of the Journal's Editorial Board strive to provide the judiciary and the legal community with relevant, well-written legal scholarship.

"It is such an honor to be chosen for the Editorial Board," said Collanne. "It was such a surprise for us both to be chosen from the pool of so many great applicants. We are honored."

"We worked hard," agreed Chris, "so we were excited to take on these positions. I'm a little scared to live up to the reputation of the Journal, but I'm confident we can do it."

Chris is the editor-in-chief of the St. Mary's Law Journal for the 2009- 2010 academic year. Collanne is the Symposium Editor, meaning she will put together the spring symposium on legal malpractice and professional ethics and then publish the articles from the conference in a special issue. Collanne sees her appointment at the Journal as the pinnacle of her law school career and her greatest accomplishment to date.

"This whole experience has taught me to have more faith in my own abilities," said Collanne. "The first year, I didn't think I'd make the grades I did. The second year I didn't think I'd make the Journal, and the third year I didn't think I'd make the board. I have learned to have more faith in myself."

She may have doubted herself, but beginning early in her law school career, others saw her and her husband as standouts.

"[They] quickly stood out in their first-year class," said Vincent R. Johnson, professor of law at St. Mary's. "When they worked for me, they checked hundreds of cases in the third edition of my torts casebook to determine which were still good law and could be cited in the fourth edition. The work was extremely tedious, but essential—which is exactly the kind of work good lawyers do."

Both spent the summer clerking at local law firms in their areas of interest and are looking forward to their last year of law school as editors of the Journal.

"Coming from where we have, both making the Journal and the board, it really shows how strong our relationship is and the kind of drive we both have," said Chris.