Pre-Law Society: Wrapping up 2020

By: Kiarra Flores

Last Meeting

Just before Thanksgiving break, we held our last meeting of the Fall 2020 semester.  In spite of the challenges and unprecedented measures taken to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pre-Law Society was able to continue its program with safe and innovative activities to engage our members in the law school process.

Following some announcements, the evening’s activity was explained. We were told we were going to simulate a law school admissions committee panel, which would give us an opportunity to see what it was like to be sitting on the other side of the table.

President Quinn Kobrin Tackles the Agenda

We formed small groups – socially distancing of course – and were given five mock students’ applications, which ranged from well-formatted and to many grammatical errors. Some were well-formatted, with strong letters of recommendation; others had spelling or grammatical answers, or did not have compelling personal statements. Once each group read the applications, they ranked them to decide who would be admitted into their law school and why.

All of the attending PLS students seemed to be very interested in this activity and each team had great discussions that both developed their understanding of the admissions process and enhanced their teamworking skills. The exercise led to an organization-wide conversation about what a strong application looks like, and we came to understand why admissions committees make the decisions they make.

Of our activities this year, this and the witness interrogation simulation were some of our most successful. As we continue to navigate the challenges of COVID-19, we hope to improve upon old activities and find new ones that will offer our members a fun and educational introduction to law school and the legal profession.  

To wrap up the final meeting of the semester, Professor Yawn announced the following four LEAP scholarship recipients: Jase Brazzil (senior), Kiera Scurry (senior), Jocelyn Aviles (junior) and Ben Breckinridge (junior).

This was a great way to end our Fall semester. Our next meeting is not yet announced but will be at the start of the Spring 2021 semester. We are very excited to see what the new year brings!