"Got a Minute?" with M.J. student Addison Allen-Haberly

Welcome to the second season of UW Law’s “Got a Minute?” series. Like last year, we’ll find students throughout William H. Gates Hall and ask them 20 questions about their law school experience, a bit about themselves and occasionally drop in a pop quiz or two.

This week, we’re featuring Addison Allen-Haberly, an M.J. student.

UW Law: Are you originally from Seattle, and if not, where?

Addison Allen-Haberly (AAH): I’m from the Seattle area and was born in Federal Way. I've lived in Washington my whole life.

UW Law: What's one interesting fact about where you're from?

AAH: I grew up mostly in Yelm, and one of our claims to fame is that an Olympic sharpshooter was born there.

UW Law: Where did you earn your undergraduate degree?

AAH: UW.

UW Law: Did you take time off between undergrad and your M.J.?

AAH: I did — almost 10 years. I graduated in 2016 with my bachelor's in psychology and worked mostly at small businesses doing HR stuff. So, employment law is the focus of my M.J.

UW Law: Why did you decide to pursue an M.J. degree?

AAH: I’m interested, long-term, in doing business consulting. I felt that having a more solid understanding of employment law and small business law and how it all intersects would give me a little bit more perspective. And then in the short-term, just because I deal with employment law matters day in and day out, it's helpful to have a little more grounding in that.

UW Law: Which professor would you pick to be your karaoke partner?

AAH: Myhre. I feel like he would have the pipes for it!

UW Law: Do you have any big plans for summer?

AAH: I'll probably be showing horses. Essentially, I’ll be dressing horses up real fancy to prance around an arena to get yelled at by judges for about five minutes. And I pay $1,300 to do this each time.

UW Law: What's one thing that every visitor to Seattle should go see or do?

AAH: There are so many things to do. One of my favorite things, though, is to walk around Pike Place and see all the historic buildings and the weird shops and curios.

UW Law: Do you have any secret talents?

AAH: I have a 99.9 percentile vocabulary.

UW Law: In 30 seconds, list as many UW Law professors as you can. Go!

AAH: Walsh, Schnapper, Page, Ambrose, Hotchkiss. I literally feel like I've forgotten every single person.

UW Law: Which achievement or accomplishment are you most proud of?

AAH: In 2025, one of the businesses that I helped run was the top grossing franchise in the world for that brand — the Redmond Mathnasium. We were the number one growth center in the world out of about 1,300 locations.

UW Law: What's been your favorite case to read so far?

AAH: Oh, there's so many interesting ones out there, but I have to say the PepsiCo fighter jet one. You can't top that.

UW Law: What are you looking forward to this quarter?

AAH: I'm taking cannabis law as a seminar this quarter and we have some latitude on what we get to write. So, I’ll get to incorporate some of the undergrad work that I used to do with youth substance dependence. I'm really looking forward to writing that paper and seeing how the regulations have played into that over time.

UW Law: What advice would you give to an incoming M.J. student?

AAH: Don't be afraid to talk to your professors.

UW Law: Do you have a favorite law-related TV show or movie, and if so, which one?

AAH: I really enjoyed “How to Get Away with Murder.” It's messed up, but very interesting and well done.

UW Law: What year was the Bill of Rights ratified?

AAH: 1791.

UW Law: Well done! What's the funniest thing a professor has done or said?

AAH: I have to go with Schnapper. There was a story he shared in employment discrimination last quarter about how he was making the argument to the Supreme Court that not everything you wear is clothes. He said, “You wear wristwatches, you wear glasses, you wear — there may be a toupee for all we know. Those things are not commonly referred to as clothes,” to which Scalia jokingly replied, “I take offense to that.”

UW Law: Name one lawyer who inspires you and explain why.

AAH: Michelle Obama. I think she did a fantastic job as First Lady, balancing all kinds of demands and demonstrating to women that you can be anything. And I really loved her book.

UW Law: Is there anyone you'd like to give a shout out to?

AAH: Huda Ashraf. She survived biz orgs with me.

UW Law: What’s one thing that people may not know about you?

AAH: I’m not necessarily a closet nerd, but I play a lot of D&D and tabletop RPGs.