One of the best clerks Judge Johnnie Rawlinson said she hired during her more than two decades on the bench had served in the U.S. Marine Corps, fought in Afghanistan, and after graduating law school, applied to work in Rawlinson’s chambers with glowing recommendations. But he came from a college Rawlinson said she never heard of.

To her, that wasn’t a factor. The clerk explained to her that he chose the law school because it gives full scholarships to all veterans.