About Keir McIntosh:

Harrison Keir McIntosh was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri, and graduated from Jefferson City High
School. After High School, he participated in Army ROTC and graduated from Lindenwood. He then attended
Creighton University School of Law on a full-ride scholarship through the Creighton Scholar’s Program.
Harrison McIntosh was one of only ten Creighton Scholars in his graduating class. He graduated from Creighton
University School of Law with a J.D. and a litigation concentration. After law school, Harrison McIntosh studied
and passed the BAR exam on his first attempt in July of 2022. He was admitted as a full member of the Missouri
BAR in 2023. Since taking the BAR exam, he worked for a year as an associate litigation attorney at The Injury
Counsel, and now works as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Callaway County.
How to be noticed in Law School.
In law school, I was a student that everyone knew, and not because I was the bright, the hard working, or the
most insightful—though I certainly tried to be those things as well.
I was known because I spoke up during class, and I was not afraid to ask questions—even if asking them could
be seen as embarrassing, foolish, or dumb. If I had a question, I’d always be the one to put my hand up and try to
find the answer. I frequently found this helped both myself and my classmates because often, the shyer members
of the class who had the same question didn’t want to be seen as foolish or stupid. I did not have the same fear.
I’m not going to lie—sometimes, I did ask stupid or foolish questions (no one ever bats 1,000), but more often,
my questions would provide context or important details about the law.
The second thing I did was speaking up and answering the professor’s questions during class, or volunteering to
answer questions about one of the cases being discussed that day—which is unusual in Law School.
Law School uses a method of instruction called the Socratic Method—which means many professors will
randomly call out one person in class, ask them to discuss one of the cases for the day, then questions them about
various aspects of the case. Sometimes, the questions are simple and easy, or discuss something your professor
has already gone over. Sometimes, the questions are difficult. Occasionally, the professor will ask an impossible
question you cannot answer unless you have experience (or you can read their mind). This means that, unlike in
many undergraduate courses, you must take notes on what you’re reading, and cannot always rely on your
memory.
This means that, for every case one had to prepare in law school (often 4-5 per class), one person is randomly
called upon to answer difficult questions, regardless of their personality. It also means you had to read the
material because you do NOT want to be the person who tells their professor they didn’t prepare for class.
Imagine then, that you’re an introvert. You hate speaking up in class, and you hadn’t prepped as much as you
should have for class that day because you had to work late, had other responsibilities, or were prepping for
other classes. You’re absolutely dreading the possibility of the professor calling on you that day, because you
hadn’t been called on in a while, and you’re sure it’ll be your turn next.
Then picture just how relieved you would be if someone stepped up to the plate and volunteered to discuss one
of the cases that day. Maybe they just covered one of the difficult cases, or one of the cases you weren’t entirely
familiar with. That random person may have just saved you a significant amount of embarrassment in class.
That random person during law school was me. I was so well known for volunteering and stepping up to the
plate during class, that when our class representative gave our graduation speech, he specifically said it was
always nice having me in class because volunteering on a case and asking questions took up the professor’s time
and allowed everyone else in class a little bit of breathing room during a tough class.
You don’t have to be the best in the room to be noticed—sometimes you just need to be the person willing to
step up to the plate.