Pre-law Advising Personalizes Student Pathways to Law School

Caroline Lambert ’16 was so confident in her lifelong career goal, becoming a lawyer, that she figured her undergraduate education was just a path to law school. “What I didn’t anticipate,” she says, “is how much my experiences over four years at Stonehill would prepare me to go to law school — and to become a successful lawyer.” 

Those experiences, ranging from being president of the Mock Trial team to studying abroad at Oxford University and on-campus events with policymakers such as Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey, were underpinned by the strength of Stonehill’s advising services for students interested in a career in law. “Advising is offered early on for students pursuing majors in the pre-law realm,” explains Professor Robert Rodgers, Political Science & International Studies Department chair and head of pre-law advising at the College.  

“Students often arrive at Stonehill with interest in the law that isn’t fully defined,” he explains. “So first, we make sure they have a sense of what their options and opportunities are and the courses, extra- and cocurricular, and internships that will prepare them for law school.”  

For all students interested in matriculating at a law school, that advice includes both maintaining a high GPA and factoring certain courses into their academic profile. During junior year, an on-campus LSAT preparatory class is available to all pre-law students to identify their strengths and weaknesses on the standardized test and develop a personalized strategy for success in taking it.  

Keeping Options Open 

Among the options and opportunities for Stonehill pre-law students is a direct-entry program with Villanova University School of Law — a pathway of three years at Stonehill and three years at Villanova — with a full-tuition law school scholarship for Stonehill juniors who qualify for the program.   

Lauren Walsh ’23 just completed her Stonehill senior year and her first year of law school at Villanova. Though she found the practicality of the combined program appealing, she also appreciated early on that she was not “locked in” to it right away. Instead, she leaned on Rodgers to guide her forward on her Stonehill pathway, selecting courses that left her options open and pursuing a finance internship with the Office of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.  

By the time Walsh was ready to commit to the six-year combined program, she felt fully prepared. “We used the same constitutional law textbook at Villanova as we did at Stonehill,” she notes. “The format of my undergraduate law classes, combined with my comfort in seeking advice from professors and learning to self-advocate, has truly benefited me in law school.”   

Courtroom-Worthy Critical Thinking 

In addition to the academic benefits of Stonehill’s robust pre-law advising program, Lambert says that other skills it confers, such as critical thinking, directly connect to her day-to-day work as a white-collar investigations and compliance associate in the Boston office of international law firm Locke Lord LLP. In particular, the analysis skills she honed as a member of the Mock Trial team help her better separate the salient facts of a given case. Lambert is so convinced of the Mock Trial program’s strengths that she joined the Stonehill faculty as an adjunct professor, leading current students in the program.   

“The pertinent skill is in asking, ‘What is the information presented, and how and why does it fit into the bigger picture we’re trying to present?’” she says. “Those are the same skills that guide our students in putting together their own case theory.”