Rooted in Growth: Law Grad Eddie Ponce Honors Prof. Lorie Reins-Schweer

PHOTO: COURTESY EDDIE PONCE AND UI COLLEGE OF LAW University of Iowa College of Law alumnus Eddie Ponce

When Eddie Ponce (21JD) arrived in Iowa City in summer 2018 to attend law school, he sought all the help he could get. He found Iowa equal parts welcoming and strange.

“I remember flying into Cedar Rapids, coming from LA, and looking out the window of the airplane to see the words, ‘I love Iowa,’ spelled out in corn,” he says. “I thought, ‘Man, what did I get myself into?’”

Ponce’s first class in legal writing was equally confounding.

“It’s like trying to learn a new language,” says Ponce. “The first two or three cases I read, it took me an hour to read one page.”

Lorie Reins-Schweer

Ponce says he relied a lot on Professor Lorie Reins-Schweer (03JD) for guidance. “I remember her being incredibly patient and supportive,” he says.

Schweer, who retired earlier this year and now lives in Tucson, Arizona, taught legal writing at the University of Iowa College of Law for 18 years. Legal writing is an essential component of the study of law, where language must be exact and precise, when the wrong word choice can put an entire document in default, or the lack of an Oxford comma in a contract can result (in the famous case of Maine dairy drivers suing for overtime pay) in a multimillion dollar settlement. Schweer could see Ponce, a first-generation college student, struggling.

“Generally, first-generation students haven’t been coached as much on using resources or feeling like they can ask for support or help,” says Schweer. “I knew Eddie was a very strong, capable person. In fact, he’s extraordinary, but I knew he had a transition to make.”

Ponce became Schweer’s research assistant. He consulted with her on other matters for the rest of his study, knowing his questions would be welcomed and he wouldn’t be judged for asking them. In 2019, they helped establish the First-Generation Professionals at Iowa Law student organization.

Their relationship evolved over the years as their respect and affection for each other grew. As Ponce approached graduation, he brought her an ivy plant as a gift.

“I said, 'I hope that you don’t think it’s corny, but this plant represents me. You were the person who assisted this little plant, and now I’ve started sprouting, and I hope that I’m going to grow into something,’” says Ponce.

Ponce says that Schweer said she was proud of him and that he would be a phenomenal attorney one day. “It meant the world to me to hear her say that,” he says.

They talk now a few times a year. Schweer still acts as a career advisor, sharing her thoughts and opinions when Ponce has choices to make. Today, Eddie Ponce, Esq., is a successful lawyer in Irvine, California, in Orange County, not far from where he grew up, practicing labor and employment law.

And as for that ivy plant?

“I’m looking at it right now,” says Schweer.