2006 POINT SCHOLARS

Derek Mize

University of Cincinnati Law School

James Derek Mize is a second-year student at University of Cincinnati College of Law. He grew up in Mississippi and is a first-generation college student.  He credits his relationship with his single mother and his personal background as primary motivating factors towards his development of a legal career.  In high school, James Derek was both an outstanding student and athlete. He graduated third in his class of over 300 and was an eleven-time state swimming champion.  After graduation, he was awarded the prestigious Robert C. Byrd award for outstanding students from rural communities. In 1999, he attended the University of Cincinnati and was the Freshman Swimmer of the Year.  After coming out, however, James Derek chose to leave the team and the sport that had supported him through the darkest days of his adolescence. He describes that when he came out, his outlook on life changed and he could no longer subject himself to environments where he was marginalized and harassed for being gay. James Derek did not leave athletics, however.  He went on to be a cheerleader at the University of Cincinnati, a competitive tri-athlete and certified to teach Pilates.  

After finishing his Bachelor’s degree, James Derek Mize returned closer to home.  He lived and worked in a diner in New Orleans, LA during the two years before Hurricane Katrina. After leaving New Orleans, James Derek officially began his professional life. He enrolled in the MA/JD dual-degree program at the University of Cincinnati. In graduate school, James Derek was afforded the opportunity to study abroad at the Universiteit van Amsterdam Summer Sexuality Institute and he was critical in the development and teaching of the core curriculum for the University of Cincinnati’s new minor in Sexuality Studies. James Derek is a leader in his local LGBT community. He has served on the Boards of Directors for GLSEN and for Equality Ohio and has been a leader in organizing two grassroots efforts to protect LGBT citizens of Cincinnati from discrimination in employment and housing. He is also the President of the Out and Allies Law Group at his law school.  n his first year of law school, James Derek was given distinguished awards for his performances in Constitutional Law, Property and Torts. He is ranked in the top ten of his class and has recently published his first legal writing in an anthology due in 2008. In summer 2007, James Derek was awarded a fellowship by the New York Lesbian and Gay Law Association and was given the opportunity to serve as a judicial intern to The Honorable Deborah Batts in the Southern District of New York. James Derek remains to be encouraged by how far it is that he has traveled from being a lonely, closeted boy in the South. He is looking forward towards a position at a large law firm either in New York City or Atlanta, GA.