When 13-year-old Massachusetts native George Drouillard made a pact with his cousin to become a professional soccer player, he never thought he would end up as a law student at South Texas College of Law Houston, much less the president of the school’s Veteran Law Students Association (VLSA).
“The dream was to make it big as an athlete, then go into sports management after I retired,” Drouillard said.
He began chasing that dream at Boston University, playing Division I soccer for one semester before a family legacy of military service drew him to pivot toward the ROTC, where he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and two of his cousins — all U.S. military veterans.
“My grandfather served in the Navy for 26 years,” Drouillard said. “Growing up, he always had really cool stories about his time in submarines, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War, so military service had always been in the back of my mind.”
Drouillard was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps following graduation, becoming the first officer in the family. He served a cumulative eight years in the Marines, starting as a commander for an assault amphibian vehicle platoon and moving up the ladder to work at the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group Headquarters, both in Virginia and Thailand.
He didn’t realize it at the time, but his role in the Marine Corps was preparing him for a career in law. The unique nature of Marines stationed at American embassies required the creation of joint policies between the Department of the Navy and the Department of State, a responsibility that often fell to Drouillard.
“When it clicked that the skills I’d learned in the Marines were transferrable to the field of law, I felt like a whole new world had opened up to me,” he said. “I thought, ‘I can do this.’”
Once he arrived at South Texas Law, it became clear that his time in the Marines empowered him to thrive in law school through a combination of practical knowledge and discipline gained from rigorous military training.
“I went home for Christmas last year, and family friends, both lawyers, said they never would have pictured me in law school when I was in high school,” Drouillard said. “It was true. I needed discipline in my life, and the Marine Corps provided it in spades.”
His time in the service also fostered lifelong connections, leading to former Marine and 2024-25 VLSA President Matt Alarcon taking first-year student Drouillard under his wing and showing him the ins and outs of student leadership in law school.
Prior to entering South Texas Law, Drouillard already had a wealth of leadership experience. He was captain of his high school soccer team and a Marine Corps platoon commander in charge of 55 Marines. After returning to civilian life, Drouillard became a team lead, drafting policy at Amazon and Meta.
Since starting law school, he not only became president of VLSA for 2025-26, he has served as Professor Josh Blackman’s research assistant as well as a member of the South Texas Law Review. This past summer, he clerked for Judge Liam Hardy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., then for Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
As VLSA president, he plans to continue the organization’s legacy of service to the campus and the community.
“VLSA serves students by providing a space for camaraderie, mentorship, and growth — not just for veterans, but any student interested in joining,” he said. “It’s truly for the people.”
One of his biggest goals for the organization is to go into the community and show veterans and ROTC students there is place for them in the world beyond their military service.
This summer, he’ll serve as a summer associate at Kirkland Ellis with a focus on transactional practice, an area he hopes to make his home.
Drouillard said, “As attorneys, we have a responsibility to use our knowledge of law to serve the people, whether it be as a public defender, a prosecutor, or in corporate practice.”
