As a Lansing native who grew up in Spartan territory, Austin DeLano, ’22, couldn’t wait to officially sport green and white when he started as a student at MSU College of Law. He studied criminal justice at Ferris State University’s campus in Lansing and, having spent so much of his life in the heart of Michigan’s government, DeLano was set on a career in service.

He joined the Army National Guard in 2015, and his service took him all over the country in 2020 and 2021.

“I went into law school as a reservist. As a national guardsman, I would work two days a month. I’d have a special weekend where I’d go and do my military service and it wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “With COVID, my unit was activated for a nationwide COVID-relief mission.”

DeLano traveled from one state to the next with his unit, providing critical support by setting up auxiliary hospitals, organizing essential military medical personnel, and assisting with legal services offered to soldiers while simultaneously continuing his education through online learning and remote instruction.

“That’s been the challenge of my life – doing school full time and active duty service full time,” he said. “There were obviously long days and then coming back to my room and doing schoolwork and re-watching Zoom classes into the wee hours of the night. It’s been extremely challenging but also very rewarding.”

As a paralegal specialist with the National Guard, in addition to his other duties as a guardsman, DeLano’s been able to couple his legal education with firsthand experience, which has helped him to understand his own ambitions within the profession. He said law school has taught him that, apart from his foremost career aspiration of pursuing a role with the JAG Corps., his interests are primarily in prosecution work and the responsibilities that come with that side of the law.

“I think when I first came in, I wanted to be a defense attorney but going through law school, I realized that if I had to pick a side it would probably be the prosecution. I think I like the prosecution so much more because you can kind of do both in a way,” DeLano said. “You have a duty to prosecute but you also have a duty to help people with their rehabilitation, with proper sentencing, with working with other social systems. I think it’s a much more rewarding path.”

DeLano plans to work with the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office in the fall of 2021. While he sees his career continuing in the military, he hasn’t written off the idea of one day pursuing prosecutorial work.

As a rising 3L, he’s eager for the opportunities that await in his final year of law school, and he understands the impact of his education and how it has prepared him for his future.

“I’m really excited. The first and second year – it’s kind of like you’re just trying to survive in a way, especially your first year,” DeLano said. “I’m starting to feel now, probably this past month: ‘Wow, in about a year from now, I’m going to be actually representing clients. I’m going to be bar-certified. I’m actually going to be an attorney.’ It flips the script from being an academic to a full-fledged attorney. It’s extremely exciting. It’s surreal. It makes you realize that it isn’t a joke, and the studies you’re doing are extremely important.”