Career Paths: Dillon Ebner ’25L After graduation, Dillon Ebner will clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia.

Dillon Ebner ’25L

Dillon Ebner ‘25L is from Haddon Heights, New Jersey, a suburb outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Wake Forest University, receiving a B.S. in Mathematical Business. At W&L, he competed in a Professional Basketball Negotiation Competition at Tulane and is the Vice President of the Jewish Law Student Association. Dillon lives in Lexington with his girlfriend, Lacey, and golden retriever, Cody. After graduation, Dillon will work for Judge Rebecca Connelly in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Did you know coming into law school that you wanted to clerk?

I did not come into law school planning to clerk. Initially, I was interested in something sports-related. However, I fell in love with bankruptcy law and found that it lets me use the analytical skills I developed at Wake Forest in a practical way. Clerking will be a significant step toward becoming a strong bankruptcy lawyer.

Was there anything in your law school or summer job experience that confirmed this career choice?

I first took Bankruptcy during my 2L Spring with Caleb Chaplain, the career clerk for Judge Connelly. The course sparked my interest in the field and gave me a strong foundation. That summer, I worked for Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, a boutique firm in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a bankruptcy practice. I was drawn to how bankruptcy intersects with so many different areas of law. No two cases were identical, and I enjoyed the variety and complexity.

In my final semester, I’m taking the Bankruptcy Practicum with Brandy Rapp, a bankruptcy attorney at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. The class has been great, but what I enjoyed most was hearing Professor Rapp share her real-world experience. Those conversations consistently confirm that this is the right career path.

What classes do you think are helpful to prepare for this job?

Aside from the Bankruptcy courses, my Judicial Externship class with Judge Carson has been incredibly valuable. He assigns “pop-writing” exercises where we draft memos to him as if we were his clerk. He is a tough grader, but the feedback has pushed me to become a stronger writer. I feel much more prepared to clerk because of it.

Can you describe the job search process?

I started the clerkship search a bit later than most since I did not decide to pursue clerking until the end of this past summer. That meant I had to move quickly to get my materials together, and the process was stressful until I received an offer. Fortunately, Caleb Chaplain was super helpful throughout and helped ease a lot of my anxiety.

What are you most looking forward to about this job?

Aside from building a relationship with Judge Connelly, I am most excited to learn how to practice law in a real-world setting. W&L has done a great job preparing us, but seeing how lawyers actually practice bankruptcy will help me figure out what I want to incorporate into my future practice (and what I might want to avoid). I’m also looking forward to becoming more familiar with the Bankruptcy process and seeing how a case plays out from start to finish.