Someone you should know: Peg Rawles
As nearly every human being does, Margaret M. "Peg" Rawles has gone through a series of phases in her life. No matter the phase, from growing up the eighth of ten children in an Irish Roman Catholic family on the South Side of Chicago, to receiving a law degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, however, Rawles's focus has always remained on family and serving others.
Rawles, who is currently employed in the Office of the University Counsel for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, once aspired to be a doctor. When she first began college at Dennison University in Granville, Ohio, she was "hellbent" on medical school. However, Rawles explained "college chemistry humbled me; it brought me to my knees." Thus, while she realized that she may not be scientifically gifted, she certainly was interested in a service profession.
After two years at Dennison, Rawles decided to transfer to the U of I, where she completed a bachelor's degree in social work. It was during this time that Rawles first began to explore law. She served an internship at the Champaign County Probation Office. Later, she worked with the staff of various county offices on land use issues and other civil litigation matters. She found the legal work and the people involved with it fascinating. It was then she knew that in order to assist people, her best professional credential would be a law degree. Thus, Rawles headed for law school.
Her first year of law school was spent at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law. But, after meeting her future husband, she transferred to the U of I College of Law in Urbana to be near him.
Although licensed to practice law since 1983, Rawles's family--her husband of 22 years and their two daughters, Lee, 21, and Jacklyn, 16--has been her priority during those years. She practiced law on a part-time basis while her children were young, which she was able to do because of wonderful bosses who really understood her desire to balance family with the practice of law. "I've had the luxury of a family structure and a husband who has completely supported me," Rawles said. "The whole experience has satisfied me by having a legitimate profession and also legitimately being there for my girls. If I had not had that time with my children in the PTO, the classroom, the girl scouts or other activities, I know that I would live with regret, and I don't."
After working part-time for the Champaign County State's Attorney's office for approximately five years, Peg entered another phase of her life in 1993 when she enrolled as a graduate student at the U of I. She was interested in stepping away from the practice of law in order to explore other ways of incorporating law into her life or even becoming a human resource professional. Using law as a background, she pursued a degree in labor and industrial relations. Soon after, she took a graduate assistantship in the Office of University Counsel. "I thought it would be a terrific way of living and learning what I was studying at the time," she explained.
Because her children are now grown, Rawles has entered yet another phase in her life. Two years ago, Rawles became full time at the Office of University Counsel. There she is able to focus on areas of personal importance and interest like civil service staffing issues, merit board proceedings, grievance and arbitration processes inherent in labor contracts, as well as a number of other miscellaneous responsibilities. Although her work load is substantial, Rawles said that her job is "dynamic" because no two days are alike and no two fact patterns are identical. She enjoys her job because it allows her to serve people. She also added that it is a privilege to serve the U of I, after having received a wonderful education from that institution.
Not only does Rawles focus her professional and her home life on assisting others, she also extends her care to those in the community. She is currently the vice-president of the Crisis Nursery Board, an agency devoted to providing prevention and protection to abused children. She served on this board for four years. In addition, Rawles served on the garden committee of her church, as the president of her children's PTO, as a girl scout leader and as a teacher's aide.
In the future, Rawles would like to explore alternative dispute resolution, serving as an arbitrator or mediator. She also aspires to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court's attorney's disciplinary board. While Rawles is open to more turns in her career path, she would like to remain focused on issues relating to families and children.
The underlying theme of Peg Rawles's life is quite apparent--helping others. She's quite aware of where it comes from too. "There's no question that if someone were to say, 'OK, you've got this life, what would you say was the defining factor for you?' I'd say being raised in a large family--no question. It defines me in ways that I'm quite sure I don't even know," she said. "It has encouraged me to explore issues related to family, it has enabled me to get along with groups of people, and it has encouraged me to focus outside of myself."
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Katie Williams is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Journalism.