Law School and More

(In the photo at the top of this story, taken by Brian DalBalcon, UW Tacoma Associate Professor Chris Demaske teaches a class on First Amendment law.)

Legal Pathways is not just a law school prep program. It’s also intended to advise on such careers as being a paralegal and law-adjacent fields, such as working for government entities or organizations where legal knowledge is beneficial but doesn’t require a J.D. — juris doctor — after your name.

Much of the program’s work across its first four years has involved creating its programs and spreading word among students, faculty and the legal community. That alone can be challenging on a campus with many transfer students and academic departments, especially amid a pandemic.

Reflecting both the mission and student interest, a big focus so far has been law school. The program includes seminars — repeated almost quarterly — on topics including “Applying to Law School 101” and “Applying to Law School: A Strategic Approach for Underrepresented Students.” Others cover paying for law school and writing the admission-important personal and diversity statements.

Some of the information the program works to get out there involves dispelling myths. Like that all lawyers get rich. Or that you need a prelaw degree (there’s no such thing, though law-focused courses don’t hurt).

“It doesn’t really matter whether you got your degree in political science or environmental science if you’ve got a decent GPA and do well on your LSATs,” said Chris Demaske, the coordinator for the Legal Pathways Faculty Advisory Board and an associate professor of communication in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

For those exploring whether the law is right for them, Legal Pathways arranges mentorships with volunteer lawyers in the community.

“It’s great for students who are really in an exploration stage, who are not 100% all in,” Sully said. “There are a lot of students who might start out thinking, ‘Hey, I really want to go to law school,’ and then partway through one of our programs realize, ‘Wait, I based this on a TV show, and what I actually want to do is get a degree in public policy.’ We view those as successes.”

Those firmer in their law school interest can apply to be a Legal Pathways Fellow, receiving the LSAT prep classes and tutoring. Fellows also have mentors and commit to regular check-ins. After taking the LSAT — some multiple times — they receive help preparing credential files and law school applications. Throughout, the intent is to make the process manageable and affordable.

“A student who works full time and goes to school full time is never going to have the same study capacity as a student who can just focus on school. That’s why we work on things like getting credit for LSAT prep. Anything we can do to offset that burden and increase our student’s capacity to study and prepare for that exam is a high priority for us,” Sully said.

Getting a jump on the competition can make a huge difference, as the odds of getting accepted — and getting crucial financial aid — are best earliest in the application window. So Legal Pathways does its best to time students’ study, test-taking and applications to take advantage of that. It’s a counter to the fact that budget-tight students often must delay test-taking and applications.

“This program has been so important for our students who sometimes just didn’t make their way to law school, not because they weren’t capable but because they just didn’t know how to get there. Or they didn’t have the time in their lives to do all the work on their own to find the path,” Demaske said. “She [Sully] has taken this haphazard system of some students meandering and finding their way to law school and created a way to support them that is coherent, streamlined and effective.”

With much of the structure built for the law school pathway, Sully and Demaske will work this summer on sketching out other pathways within the university. So if, for example, a student is interested in immigration, what courses are available from multiple departments related to that and the law around it, what faculty could advise about that, are there internships available and what legal careers — lawyer or not — could tap that interest.

The program’s faculty and community advisory boards provide not only advice but also links within the university and the community.

Carly Roberts is executive director and CEO of Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers, which provides legal services, such as eviction prevention or for domestic violence victims. She serves on the Legal Pathways Community Advisory Board with about a dozen others. A mentor as well, she enjoys “the personal connection to somebody who’s experiencing the process, and maybe just needs a little nudge.”

She sees her role as helping build confidence and “opening the door to accessing justice and understanding what a career in the legal field looks like. If you don’t have that resource, it’s a lot harder to do by yourself, especially with all the inherent barriers.”

The mentors and community involvement are of a piece with Legal Pathways’ goal of helping its participants build connections to the legal community, one that feeds back into meeting South Sound needs.

“You’re more likely to get your first job in the area that you went to law school,” Sully said of those who will study in the region. “But if you do leave the area, you’re much more likely to come back if you’ve got meaningful legal ties.”

“Having a program like Legal Pathways will be really important in shaping society 30 years down the road, because it’ll take us a few years to get our degrees and to start working in the legal field,” said Teresa Dennerlein, an alumna of the Legal Pathways program and soon-to-be UW Law student. “But I think we’ll start to see a more diverse legal community.”