Graduating Student Capitalized on Multiple Abilities

During his three years of law school at the University of Virginia, somewhere between Torts, Corporations and softball games, Joseph Camano was named an all-American in tennis and sang a solo at Carnegie Hall. If those feats weren’t impressive enough, consider the fact that he accomplished everything while working with just one full limb — his powerful left arm.

When he graduates with his classmates on May 19, Camano, who was born without legs, hip sockets or a fully functional right arm, will head off to New York City to work at the law firm Sidley Austin.

“My approach to life so far has been, ‘You can find a way if you want to make it happen,’” Camano said.

To become a champion tennis player, finding a way meant learning to serve the ball by flipping it off his racquet before thwacking it over the net. To participate in softball with his 1L classmates from Section F, he learned to hit line drives by using his dominant arm to pull the bat toward the pitch, like a tennis backhand. And to get to Carnegie Hall … well, it’s just like the punchline to the old dad joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.”

Camano was born in Virginia Beach to parents who emigrated from the Philippines. His father, a U.S. Navy officer, refused to accept his son’s physical disability and multiple surgeries as excuses for not participating in life.

“Their mindset was always just use what you’ve been given and work with it as best you can,” Camano said.

His mom supported him when he wanted to try football at age 4 and signed him up for a musical when he was 14. He excelled in the theater, landing the lead role in “Seussical the Musical,” and although football didn’t work out, it was his gateway to various other adaptive sports, including basketball, rugby, swimming, martial arts and sled hockey.

His father also went to bat for him, first to get him into inclusive classes and then to retain his in-school physical and occupational therapy services.

“My parents were really pushing for the inclusive class because they knew I didn’t have a developmental or mental disability,” Camano said. “But once I was in the inclusive class and my grades weren’t bad, the school asked why I would need special services at all.”

His dad contacted the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, in Richmond, to develop their strategy to lobby the school to retain his services.

In a twist of fate, when Camano participated in the school’s alternative spring break, in which students volunteer their legal services, his first year of law school, he was matched with the same disability law center.

“I didn’t even know my parents had done that for me until I mentioned my spring break plans to them,” Camano said. “I was just like, ‘Wow, we’ve come so far.’”

As a child, Camano was more focused on sports, music and video games than on academics, he said. But he found his footing at Randolph-Macon College, a small liberal arts school near Richmond, where he triple-majored in English, music and Asian studies, with a minor in Japanese language and history.

While in Japan for a summer research project, he studied the role music played in helping Japan recover from the 2011 nuclear disaster that was triggered by an earthquake and tsunami. He found he was equally interested in another student’s project, which examined the role of the Japanese legal system in the disaster and recovery.

“I’d never really thought about law much, but seeing my interest, one of the advisers on the trip encouraged me to take her Con Law class and think about taking the LSAT,” Camano said. “I wanted to stay close to family, and UVA Law felt like a welcoming environment and the right fit for me.”

At orientation, Camano noticed he was the only student in a wheelchair. He wondered whether students would stare. Maybe they would avoid eye contact. Instead, they welcomed him into the fold, he said.

“I was heavily encouraged by everyone — from my Peer Advisors to everybody in my section — to participate just as much as everyone else,” Camano said. “It’s horrifying, but I even did the dance in front of everyone at [the Dandelion Parade], and I just hope they don’t have a video of that somewhere.”

He performed in the Libel Show his first year, played softball all three years, played piano and sang with his friends in Caplin Pavilion, and served on the Virginia Tax Review and as a research assistant for the development of Professor Cathy Hwang’s corporations casebook.

Professor Molly Bishop Shadel, who teaches public speaking and advocacy courses, said she was struck by Camano’s stage presence and warm nature.

“He projects so much confidence and good humor in everything he does. It’s extraordinary to me how, when you hear him speak, you quickly forget that he’s got any sort of disability and you just focus on how he’s got a really powerful presence,” Shadel said. “He certainly inspired me, and I think he had that impact on everyone in our class.”

A fellow student in the Community Organization and Social Enterprise Clinic, Catherine McNeish Hill ’24, cited Camano’s kindness and work ethic, as well as his focus on including others the way he was embraced.

“Joseph is often encouraging friends to get involved with clubs and projects that he knows they would personally excel in,” Hill said. “He is also quick to see the bright side of any situation and combats the stress of law school with humor and joy.”

He also combats it with tennis, a sport he had never played until early in his second year, after a stranger in line at a restaurant recruited him to the UVA wheelchair tennis team. That commitment has taken him to out-of-state tournaments nearly every month, including the collegiate nationals in Florida.

Last school year, he joined Incarnation Church’s choir for an opportunity to sing again. Through a string of serendipitous events, the choir was invited to sing backup vocals for a performer at Carnegie Hall in February 2023, and Camano was offered a solo to open one of the songs.

This year, he set aside singing and the Libel Show to focus on tennis and the state portion of the New York bar exam. At least one UVA Law classmate will be joining him at Sidley’s New York office in the fall — Madison Clark, who says they bonded over a “shared love of choral music” and a large UVA alumni luncheon at Sidley that Camano organized.

“Not only was he hardworking, he was also one of the people doing the most work to connect the other UVA summer associates with other alumni at the firm,” Clark said. “Being his friend has truly been such an honor, and I can’t wait to continue working together next year.”

Once Camano settles into the Big Apple, in between term sheets and due diligence reviews, he hopes to make a little time for music.

“Delving into that music scene up there would be really cool,” Camano said. “I’m sure it’s gonna be a super busy time, maybe somewhere in-between work and everything else I can take up voice lessons again.”

As Camano and his classmates know, he will find a way if he wants to make it happen.