Now a Stanford University Law School graduate, former Washington University student-athlete CJ Harrington used the time between his freshman and sophomore years in both high school and college to set his future in motion.
After his first year at Park Tudor High School in Indianapolis, Harrington entered an exposure program at the Just the Beginning Foundation, which helps underrepresented students pursue opportunities in law. “We learned what it is like to be an attorney and the different paths that one can take to be in the law profession,” he described. “We had a moot court competition and I ended up winning. At that point, I thought, ‘Maybe I could be decent at this’ and stuck with it.”
Having played for the two-time Indiana state champions in high school, he always envisioned himself playing basketball in college. Things didn’t exactly go as planned when he was cut as a freshman at WashU, but his hard work and determination earned him a spot the following season.
Basketball in Indiana
“When you grow up in Indiana, you have to love basketball. It is that Hoosier DNA,” Harrington explained. “When I was in the fourth grade, I was invited to play on the fifth and six grade team. My mom said I could only participate on the condition that I still had to get A’s in all my classes. My parents always stressed integrating academics with athletics.”
After playing basketball and football in middle school, Harrington focused on basketball in high school, playing for coach Ed Schilling. “We had some really talented players and big names like Yogi Ferrell (who now plays for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA) and Trevon Bluiett (who played at NCAA Division I Xavier University and now plays in the NBA G League with the Salt Lake City Stars),” Harrington recounted. “I became obsessed with winning, what it takes to create a winning culture and the sacrifices that need to be made.”
Park Tudor won back-to-back state championships in 2011 and 2012 after finishing second in 2010. In Harrington’s senior season, the team broke the school’s regular season win record and captured the Marion Court Championship, their first county title. “That was incredible for a school our size to beat Pike High School at their place,” he recalled. “After that, we were expected to win our third state title, something even my hero Oscar Robertson had not done.
Instead, the team lost in the sectional round of the state tournament. “That was such a huge disappointment. I still remember the score, 69-67,” he lamented. “That really drove me. I wanted that opportunity to win another championship. I made a list of colleges to look into. At the end of the day, WashU made the most sense. I wanted to do my best at a place that screamed national championship.”
Washington University Basketball
Having been admitted to WashU, Harrington was able to apply to earn a John B. Ervin Scholarship, which is set up specifically for students who have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership, community service, and commitment to diversity.
Gaining the scholarship turned out to be easier than making the basketball team. “I did my absolute best to make the team. At the time, we had 15 players trying out,” Harrington remembered. “(Head Coach) Mark (Edwards) had allowed a lot of players to walk on and we had a JV team. There were six recruits and nine walk-ons. I did my best to outwork others; I was the first one in the gym every day, and pushed myself.”
“On the day of the announcements, I was debating whether to show up first in the gym, but my parents taught me to go in to any situation and be confident,” he continued. “Coach called me in and said, ‘I don’t have a spot on the team for you.’ That was a Monday or Tuesday and by Thursday, I asked him if I could try again next year. It is not my M.O. (modus operandi) to give up. My dream had been to play college basketball. I knew I wasn’t going to star at Indiana or Purdue, but I still wanted to play in college.”
He did return to tryouts in his sophomore year and had a much different meeting with Edwards. “Instead of waiting for announcement day, he called me in after the last practice,” Harrington related. “This time he said, ‘CJ, I just wanted to let you know there is a spot on the team for you.’”
“He is one of the hardest-working young men I ever had on the team. His ability to stay focused during difficult times is remarkable,” Edwards recalled. ““He was always an inspiration to his teammates and coaches. He is bound to be a ‘difference maker’ in our society.”
What he remembers more than a pair of 20-win seasons, two trips to the NCAA tournament, and a UAA title in his three years, are the things Edwards taught. “He never let you lose the fun that the game can have. Being part of college athletics is serious. A lot of people want your spot as I definitely know,” Harrington communicated. “There should also be joy playing the game and he did a great job with that.”
“Coach taught us not to be too critical of ourselves. He typically wouldn’t be tough on us after losses. Actually, he was tougher on us after wins,” Harrington chuckled. “If you start being too critical of yourself when you miss your goal or make a mistake, you begin to self-correct everything. He showed us how to stay the course after making mistakes.”
Another favorite memory for Harrington was an exhibition game his senior year. “I loved being able to play at the University of Illinois. It was an awesome experience to be able to have that Division I feel,” he expressed. “We had that in the UAA too, being able to travel to amazing cities. It was something you couldn’t have anywhere else in Division III.”
The thing Edwards stressed most continues to be a trademark of the program. “Coach really stressed focusing on the relationships between the guys and that we were all part of a bigger team,” Harrington described. “Even as we transitioned into a new era, Coach (Pat) Juckem brought the alumni together and you could see how committed people still are to those relationships. Being a Bear is something special.”
Washington University Beyond Basketball
In addition to focusing on academics and athletics, Harrington made sure to be involved in other activities. “Ever since I got to high school I have juggled a lot of things. I took on leadership opportunities, including student council,” he stated.” I wanted to continue that at WashU and that started with being part of the ThurtenE Honorary and the ThurtenE Carnival, the largest and longest-running student-run carnival in the country.”
He eventually became the president of the Honorary and after his junior year, interned with Deloitte Federal Consulting in D.C. “I like being busy. I was used to that grind and struggle,” he said. “I perform my best when I am busy.”
“I knew CJ for most of my college career and we are still good friends today. There are three things that I think describe him best: driven towards excellence, morally sound, and always there for his friends,” said Ross Brown, a nine-time All-America swimmer and four-time UAA champion who followed Harrington as president of the Honorary. “When CJ puts his mind to something, he really puts his all into the task to make sure it gets done and then raises the bar on how it is done. He exudes an aura that makes you want to do more and raise your bar to meet his standards.”
Harrington focused a lot more on criminal justice toward the end of high school and through college. “The Trayvon Martin murder (on February 26, 2012 and the subsequent acquittal of the shooter in July 2013) spurred a fire in me. That was the beginning of Black Lives Matter (founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi),” he recalled. “Then Michael Brown was murdered in nearby Ferguson (on August 9, 2014). I was fortunate to be able to take that energy to find outlets where I could be part of the solution.”
Double majoring in political science, and leadership and strategic management, Harrington started the Washington University Undergrad Law Review. “I was able to write for the Washington University Political Review about various aspects of the criminal justice system and talked about wrongful convictions in one of my courses,” he mentioned. “I talked about policing in racial communities and was able to nurture my passion for justice at WashU.”
During his sophomore year, Harrington’s spring break coincided with a business trip his father was taking to San Francisco. “I wanted to spend some time with him and we wanted to visit Berkeley and Stanford, as I had an inkling I at least wanted to try to get into law school at those institutions,” he recalled. “I was blown away when I stepped on Stanford’s campus.”
Although he knew he would apply to Stanford, he didn’t assume he would get in. “I applied to a lot of law schools. I cast my net wide, as I was not confident I would get into Stanford. Coach Schilling used to tell us to ‘control the controllables.’ I did the best I could academically and on the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and hoped admissions directors would recognize those things as well as the leadership opportunities I had taken to say, ‘It’s worth giving this kid a seat.’” He was accepted into numerous schools, narrowing his choice to Stanford and Harvard before choosing the school whose campus had so impressed him on his spring break trip.
An Opportunity in Washington, D.C.
After his first year of law school, he worked in both Los Angeles and New York City. In New York, he worked for Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, helping sue prosecutors, police, and counties responsible for wrongfully convicting clients. “That gave me a whole new lens into the criminal justice sphere,” admitted Harrington, who would later write a federal habeas petition on behalf of a client victimized by the three-strike policy. “He had a third strike for a non-violent offense. The risk assessment on him deemed him the lowest risk prisoner, yet the judge declared him an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”
He had now worked in three of the largest metropolitan areas, but it was his time in D.C. that stuck with him. “That one summer I was in D.C., I just fell in love with D.C. Even then, I was thinking, ‘This could be my fit,’” he recollected.
After graduating from Stanford, he was offered a position at the law firm Latham and Watkins in D.C. “I will have the opportunity to look at a lot of different industries and learn to become the best attorney I can. I see myself there for the foreseeable future. The judicial system thwarts opportunities for some people that it doesn’t for others. I want to address those kinds of issues,” he explained. “Plus, my sister is in graduate school at George Washington University, studying to be a therapist, so I am excited to spend more time with her.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harrington’s scheduled bar exam keeps being pushed back further and further. He was originally scheduled to take it in late July, then September, and now October at the earliest. Never willing to sit around, Harrington has made the most of the interim period. “I have been speaking to mentors and trying to best use this time to learn more and find different ways to become the best attorney I can be,” he remarked.
One of the ways he is using the time is to maintain his own blog, Good Works Start Somewhere, where he will be sharing some of his writing, and eventually some of his songwriting, about things that matter to him the most: combining his faith with helping make the lives of others better.
“My grandfather was one of my role models growing up and still is, even though he passed away when I was only three months old. He was a prominent preacher in Indianapolis and it is powerful to see how many lives he touched. He prayed over me as a baby while he was battling cancer,” Harrington shared. “My parents met in his church and have continued to pass down all of his sayings. I even have a few of his sermon notes.
“Being a Christian has always been instrumental in my journey, but the real kicker was when I didn’t make the WashU basketball team. I really took that time to develop more of a personal relationship with Christ and came to love Ephesians 2:10 and how we are here to do good works for others,” he expressed. “I know I am a work in progress. Being a perfectionist has made it hard sometimes and I have made some huge mistakes, but I am working on extending more grace to others and to myself. I can’t let my mistakes keep me from knowing that God has a plan for me and others.”
“CJ is always stepping with his best foot forward and is very thoughtful about the impact of his actions,” Brown commented. “Through the years that I have known him, he has always been a person who I can text and/or call about anything in life and he has definitely helped me become a better person and a better friend.”
As he progresses in his journey professionally and personally, Harrington recalls the words of his late grandfather. “In the pain and angst that grips our nation amid a pandemic and lynchings, I think of a lesson taught by my grandfather,” he stated. “A preacher and a leader in the city during moments of hardship, he is often remembered for saying, ‘You’re blessed to be a blessing.’”