Law fair draws possible students

With a turnout of more than 600 students last year, this year’s Law Day event boasted similar numbers as students took time to learn about opportunities offered by 108 law schools across the nation.

With only 192 law schools in the country, according to the Law Day informational Web site, IU brought more than half of the law schools in the nation, such as Cornell University, Duke University, Northwestern University, Columbia University, New York University and the University of Connecticut.

“It’s a good event,” said Gabriel Rosenberg, director of admissions at the University of Connecticut School of Law. “It’s always very valuable.”

Students said they believed the event offered many opportunities to network and find out more about law schools.

“I just wanted to get to know what some of the schools offer and talk to some of the recruiters to see what they are looking for in students,” said sophomore Paulina Rabell. “I’m just trying to make up my mind if I really want to go to law school or not. I’m a political science major, so I might want to do something in that field. I’m not sure.”

Other members of the IU community said they thought the event was a great idea and that it was very helpful.

“I’m kind of getting off to a late start,” said junior Arielle McAlpin. “So I just wanted to get a feel of the schools I was interested in and talk to the people who represented the school. I think it just helps (students) keep their options open.”

With the competitive nature of law school, firms are advising students to start looking early.

“I had an internship at a law firm last summer,” said sophomore Justin Shukas, “and they said to start looking at schools now and get ready for when you apply.”

The event offered students the ability to look at regional or national options.

“I looked at a lot of Midwest schools because I’m from Chicago,” said sophomore Sara Rebmann.

“We’re Connecticut,” Rosenberg said. “Not a lot of people that go to Indiana are from the East Coast, but a lot of people are interested.”

The event showed recruiters the strength of IU’s pre-law programs.

“It shows that you have some really interested students,” said Lurlene Barry, assistant director of admissions at the New York Law School. “I’ve seen at least 20 students already. They’re asking really good questions, and they’re not just coming and picking up information. They want to know about the programs, our locations, what we offer, and I really like that.”

Members of Phi Alpha Delta, a pre-law fraternity, and the Legal Studies Club were also present.

“We’re definitely looking to increase our chapter size,” said junior Kelley Gordon, a member of Phi Alpha Delta. “Aside from the enormous alumni network, we give students an opportunity to get involved with community service, professional events, social events and fundraisers. Anything you want to get involved with, we offer.”

The event offered students an opportunity to get ahead of the game and allowed them to potentially find where their future could lead.

“I think it’s just a great way to bring all of the law schools here and personally talk to people from the admissions and just getting more information for starting out my process of looking at law schools,” Rebmann said.