JULIA BURKE
2L, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL OF LAW
How was your Pre-Law Pipeline experience?
It was good. I've told people to apply. I think a lot of it just gave me the tools that I needed and always had, teaching me how to apply them to get into law school and succeed. I think it just took those tools and showed me how to use them. A lot of it was very transferable to 1L, and I think just getting those early on and being able to have the support system from them was very helpful.
What was a major benefit?
They encourage networking, and I didn't realize until I got into law school that you can get a job just from networking. The social aspect of law, being able to network and ask the right questions taught me that the worst thing someone can say is “no” or that they don't have time. It’s worth asking. The Pre-Law Pipeline Program gives you the tools as well as the opportunities, such as those luncheons, to do that, allowing you to expand your network and introducing you to various individuals.
What advice would you offer someone interested in law school?
I think a lot of what you hear in law school is to be really intentional. In a way, there's some attorneys that will sit there and say, “Don't go to law school.” However, the best thing is that if you really want to do it, just do it. You just need one school, one person, to take a chance on you and think you can succeed. It's better to just take the risk — If you're going to be scared, you might as well do it scared.
Do you have any law school tips?
Be intentional. If you're going to join clubs, be intentional with the ones that you select because you don't want just a resume builder. Recruiters want you to be purposeful in your choices and to be very intentional in your work because it's going to help you in the long run. Don't be afraid of talking to upperclassman and professors, asking them the questions that you want to.
What are you doing now?
I am a rising 2L at UNH in New Hampshire, and this summer I am at a law firm learning a little bit of everything. I'm also an associate editor of one of our law reviews and a Daniel Webster Honors Scholar, an alternative bar exam program that selects only 24 students annually. For the next two years, I will participate in hands-on, simulated, competency-based activities to be evaluated by a bar examiner in unique classes. If completed, I will be part of the first graduating class of its kind in the country.
