Daughter follows in father's footsteps by graduating from UNT Dallas College of Law

DALLAS - One North Texas daughter is giving her dad a great gift this Father's Day by following into a courtroom as a lawyer.

Both father, John Kiraly, and his daughter, Zoe, graduated from the UNT College of Law.

"It was really special. I think it was a unique moment and kind of emotional because we both accomplished this great task, and we did it together and it was really neat," said Zoe.

Neat is a good way to describe the relationship between the Kiralys.

"I was inspired to go to law school by my father after he graduated and I wanted to use my undergrad biology degree to practice I.P. law," Zoe explained.

Her dad graduated from the same law school in 2019 after serving in the military for 22 years.

"I really thought, Shaun, that I was going to retire and golf every day, but then I realized I was 46 years old," said John. "So I wanted to do something and I saw going into law as one of those opportunities to continue helping the community, kind of like I did when I was in the army."

Zoe, an only child, has memories full of a special daddy-daughter relationship.

"Yeah, it's great. We've always been close, and I think we're pretty similar," she said.

Now those similarities continue as they both practice law.

"It's definitely an exciting time, Shaun, because she's getting to start a career with a lot of opportunities," John said. "Even if we're not practicing together, we still are because there are so many similarities, and we'll talk every day about what we're doing."

Happy Father's Day to all those dads out there.