Prior to attending law school, Hicks graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.B.A. in Finance. She then attended Texas Wesleyan School of Law for her first year of law school before transferring to SMU, her first choice.
"I knew I wanted to practice in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), and SMU has a wider base of alumni contacts and is more widely known than Texas Wesleyan in the DFW area," Hicks said.
For her first two years of law school, Hicks interned for a medical malpractice attorney whom she met at a ballet class. She said they rehearsed together for a while and the attorney asked if she would be interested in interning. Hicks feels that the experience gave her practical experience in a small firm.
Hicks also interned for a federal judge, which gave her the chance to observe hearings and gain familiarity with a variety of pleadings and motions. She feels that her drafting skills improved thanks to immediate reviews of her work. She gained experience working with the school's Federal Taxpayers' Clinic, as well, an experience she said worked well for her because she got "a lot of experience interviewing and communicating with clients."
Now that she has completed law school, Hicks plans to work at The Holmes Firm, PC, a firm that specializes in commercial real estate law.
"I actually thought that I wanted to do tax law when I came to law school," said Hicks. "However, after taking Real Estate Transactions, I became interested in real estate law. So much of what attracted me to tax law also attracted me to real estate law: facilitating and organizing a transaction; attention to detail; and, most importantly, not litigating."
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Hicks has been involved in numerous productions and performances since she started dancing. She has been in "several Nutcracker performances" and served as an assistant director for two productions of the show that had target audiences of school-aged children. She also performed in a professional tap show, "World Tap," with the Mark Goodman Tap Company. She spent time in Los Angeles, as well, where she performed in several music videos and television shows.
During her first year of law school, Hicks auditioned for the arena football team's Dallas Desperados Dancers. She made it all the way to the finals and was able to perform in front of a large crowd but ultimately did not make the team. She has spent the past few seasons working with Momentum Dance Company, performing in several shows, including Coppélia and the company's spring show.
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"Balancing law school and Momentum Dance Company was not easy. I could not do every performance because the shows always came at the same time as finals. I would look at my schedule for law school and my schedule for the company, and if there were too many conflicts, I would sit out for that show. The director worked with me to minimize conflicts for the performances that I was able to do. The ballet classes and rehearsals were every Saturday, so there was no conflict with law school classes. I often brought study materials to rehearsal to make the most of my time," Hicks said.
As if school, interning, and dancing with Momentum were not enough, Hicks has been teaching dance for the past eight years. She said that she has come to enjoy teaching dance even more than performing.
"I love seeing the students progress and mature," she said. "I also enjoy the personal challenge of identifying a group's strengths and choreographing to those strengths and abilities. I've choreographed about 50 group routines and over 60 solos, and those routines have won countless awards."
