Pathways to Law
Pathways to Law
There is no single path to a legal career, and your preparation for it happens both inside and outside the classroom.
Your undergraduate years are an opportunity to explore your interests, develop new skills, take on challenges, and build experiences that will shape who you become as a student and future professional. That might mean interning in a law office, but it might also include conducting research with a faculty member, studying abroad, leading a campus organization, competing with 鶹Ƶ Mock Trial or Model United Nations, serving your community, completing an honors thesis, or pursuing a nationally competitive fellowship, such as Fulbright.
Don’t build your undergraduate experience around what you think will simply “look good” to a law school. Instead, pursue opportunities that genuinely interest you, challenge you academically and personally, and help you develop the skills and perspectives you will carry into your legal career and future life.
Make wise choices about how you spend your undergraduate years. What matters is what you did, learned, contributed, and gained from your experiences. Explore the options listed below to see what interests you and fits your personal story. Many 鶹Ƶ undergraduates who attended law school or pursued other legal careers were involved in one or more of these activities.
Phi Alpha Delta
The law school admissions process is complex and the competition is great, and the decision to become an attorney is not one to be taken lightly. Phi Alpha Delta helps its members to understand the application process and the legal world more fully. Students interested in legal careers come together via PAD to participate in events, including:
- inviting guest speakers to address topics of student interest
- visiting local law schools
- taking practice LSAT exams
- engaging in mock trial and/or moot court exercises
- arranging for students to shadow a lawyer for a day
- learning how to finance law school wisely
- hearing from 鶹Ƶ alums about their pre-law journeys
This student-run organization typically meets on Wednesday nights throughout the semester. Follow on Instagram for meeting updates, and join the PAD GroupMe:
鶹Ƶ Mock Trial
鶹Ƶ Mock Trial provides undergraduate students at 鶹Ƶ the opportunity to compete on a national level as part of the American Mock Trial Association. Since 2003, 鶹Ƶ students have learned first hand about the work of trial attorneys, studied the judicial system, developed critical thinking and enhanced communication skills. Each season, 鶹Ƶ Mock Trial competes in around five tournaments. A tournament consists of four trials alternating between prosecution (or plaintiff) and defense teams, and each team consists of 6-10 members, six of whom will actually compete at any given time (three as attorneys, three as witnesses). Each trial focuses on a single case which governs competition for the entire year, alternating annually between a criminal or civil legal issue.
Try-outs are held in late August, and members meet regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 PM. Follow on Instagram for more information.
North Carolina Student Legislature
Students write resolutions and laws regarding state and national policy issues and debate them weekly. They also debate at monthly conferences held at 鶹Ƶ and other North Carolina institutions. Students use parliamentary procedure in their debates and go to a five-day Annual Session using the North Carolina General Assembly rooms in Raleigh. Students can participate as a club member or join (a 1-credit hour course that can be taken up to 4 times).
Model United Nations
Model UN students simulate the interactions of national governments in the UN General Assembly, Security Council and specialized UN committees at regional and national conferences (in New York) attended by a large number of college Model UN chapters. The chapter organizes and supervises Model UN conferences every semester for the freshman Global Experiences classes, a unique application of the Model UN concept. Students can participate as a club member or join (a 1-credit hour course that can be taken up to 4 times).
National and International Fellowships
National and international fellowship offer opportunities to pursue research, public service, graduate study, language learning, international experience, and other meaningful work before pursuing a legal career. Programs such as Fulbright and other competitive fellowships can hehelp you explore the issues and communities you care about while developing skills and perspectives that you can carry into legal education and a future career. For students considering law school, a fellowship can also provide valuable time to explore an area of interests more deeply, gain practical experience outside the classroom, develop a global or public-service perspective, and better understand how law intersects with the issues you hope to address in your career.
Learn More about National and International Fellowships
Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate research is an excellent way to prepare for a future legal career. Working closely with a faculty mentor, conducting independent research, completing an honors thesis, and presenting your work gives students opportunities to develop many of the same skills that matter in legal careers: asking thoughtful questions, finding and evaluating evidence, analyzing complex information, constructing persuasive arguments, and communicating conclusions clearly.
Your research doesn’t have to be specifically about law. Future law students can investigate questions across political science, history, economics, business, psychology, sociology, environmental studies, communications, the sciences, and many other fields. What matters is learning how to approach a difficult question systematically and follow the evidence where it leads. Research can also help you discover what you care about. Exploring topics such as criminal justice, civil rights, technology, health, business, the environment, education, international affairs, or public policy may ultimately help you identify the issues you want to pursue through law. Talk with your major or minor faculty advisors about pursuing 4999 credits in undergraduate research.
Learn More about Undergraduate Research
鶹Ƶ Votes!
鶹Ƶ Votes! offers students an opportunity to experience civic engagement beyond the classroom, and this can be particularly meaningful for students interested in legal careers. Student members help their peers understand the voting process, promote voter registration and participation, and contribute to nonpartisan efforts that strengthen civic involvement across the 鶹Ƶ community. These experiences provide firsthand exposure to the connections among law, elections, political institutions, public policy, and the communities those institutions serve, while building skills in communication, leadership, collaboration, and public engagement.
Civic Engagement
For students considering legal careers, civic engagement provides an opportunity to move beyond studying laws, policies, and institutions to seeing how they affect people and communities in practice. Through 鶹Ƶ’s civic engagement opportunities, students can participate in service, dialogue, advocacy, community partnerships, and other experiences that connect their academic interests with public life. These experiences can help future legal professionals develop a deeper understanding of the communities they may one day serve while strengthening skills in leadership, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and working across differences.
Civic engagement can also help you discover the issues that matter most to you. Experiences involving education, economic opportunity, voting, criminal justice, housing, immigration, the environment, or other community concerns may ultimately shape the questions you want to study and the kind of legal career you want to pursue.
Learn More about Civic Engagement at 鶹Ƶ
Phoenix Policy Institute
鶹Ƶ’s Phoenix Policy Institute offers students an opportunity to explore public policy beyond the classroom and engage more deeply with the issues facing communities, governments, and policymakers. Through policy-focused research, discussion, and engagement, students can examine complex problems, consider competing perspectives, evaluate potential solutions, and strengthen their ability to communicate ideas effectively. These experiences develop skills that translate naturally to law school and legal careers, including research, analytical thinking, persuasive writing, problem-solving, and evidence-based argumentation. The Institute can be especially valuable for students interested in careers at the intersection of law and public policy, including government, legislative affairs, advocacy, nonprofit work, regulatory policy, and public-interest law. Interested students can enroll in , a 2-credit hour course, and returning students move up the ranks in mentoring and leadership activities.