UTA grad’s future career combines law and mental health
Izabella Russell’s first in-person class at The University of Texas at Arlington made her face her greatest fear: public speaking.
Russell, a psychology major with minors in neuroscience and law and legal studies, started her college journey during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; her first year at UTA was fully remote. Following UTA’s transition to hybrid classes, Russell’s first class on campus was mock trial—and it helped her beat her fear of public speaking.
The aspiring attorney will cross the stage at Globe Life Field on Friday, May 10, joining a network of 270,000-plus Maverick alums. Her next stop: Baylor University School of Law.
“When I was younger, I was interested in being a lawyer, but I never thought I would be able to because of public speaking. It was kind of crazy that my first class on campus was mock trial, a public speaking course,” Russell said. “I told myself to just go for it, because it was my first time on a college campus, and a lot of people didn’t know who I was or that I was really shy. This change in perspective was how I really started to get into mock trial.”
With the support of her mock trial coach and mentor, Amber White, Russell decided to stay on the mock trial team even after completing the credit hours she needed for her degree plan. She credits White and mock trial alumni coach Hailey Moore with “my academic and self-growth.”
Russell was the captain of the UTA mock trial team and president of UTA’s Pre-Law Society. She’s been recognized by the American Mock Trial Association and is the second Maverick to earn back-to-back Top Defense Attorney of the Year Awards. In this year’s “Kangaroo Brawl” competition in Sherman, Texas, she was the only competitor to win both a Top Witness and Top Attorney award.
Russell comes from a law enforcement family; her dad is a sergeant in the Fort Worth Police Department, and her mom was also in the force before transitioning to teaching special education. Russell said her parents influenced her interest in law. She said she wants to work as a county prosecutor or for the FBI.
“My end goal, which is decades down the road, is to run my own NeuroLaw clinic,” Russell said. “I want to work with veterans and first responders who developed mental illness due to their time serving and may be in need of legal help.”
Russell also plans to advocate for the larger community to provide service members with access to resources and programs that can help rehabilitate them.
“I want to lobby for more mental health awareness and mental health reform in our greater court system,” she said. “The groups of people I want to advocate for have sacrificed so much for our society. It’s only right that we serve those who have served.”