Quick Facts
Favorite word?
Extraordinary
Favorite music to write to?
Amy Winehouse, Leon Bridges, Van Morrison
What’s a word you always misspell?
Entrepreneur
Jill Bodensteiner
Director of Athletics
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SJU Writes: What kind of writing do you do right now?
JB: Currently, my writing is much different than it was when I was a lawyer. When I was a lawyer, it was more advocacy, memos, court documents and persuasive letters. I would be writing a summary of the law and my recommendations to my clients. Now the purpose of my writing, depending on my medium, is to sell people on my vision, whether it’s recruiting prospective student athletes or staff, giving speeches or writing tweets. It’s all to get people energized about Saint Joseph’s Athletics.
SJU Writes: What’s the best thing you’ve ever written?
JB: There were some really good academic pieces and legal briefs that I’m really proud of that got good results. But I’m going to say, it was a speech I gave in 2012. I was the keynote speaker in New York City at a celebration of 40 years of women at Notre Dame.
SJU Writes: What’s the most difficult thing you’ve ever written?
JB: I clerked for a federal judge right out of law school from 1995 to 1996. She was the judge on a very difficult first amendment case where a high school teacher was fired for allowing her students to use bad language in a creative writing class. She got fired and sued the school district saying they violated her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. It was a very public case. I saw both sides of it very clearly, and I had to write the first draft of the opinion. It was both really fun and really hard.
SJU Writes: Do you seek advice as you write?
JB: Very little to be honest. I would have earlier in my career, but now I am a procrastinator, so it’s usually due in the next hour, and I don’t have time. I am confident in my own voice and message at this stage in my career. I really don’t have anyone review it unless there are political implications.
—Gabriella Bamford ’22