PRE-LAW ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS
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Hunter Pre-Law Society
Internship Opportunities
Law Mentoring
Panels and Roundtables
Outside Organzations and Programs

Hunter Pre-Law Society
The Hunter Pre-Law Society is a student club that serves as a conduit for a collective pre-law student voice at Hunter. The club is dedicated to promoting the academic success of Hunter’s pre-law students. It facilitates trips, events, and study assistance and serves as a forum for expression of different opinions on current legal and public affairs. Students have found taking on a leadership role in the club fun and useful. Contact the Society at Hunterprelawsociety@gmail.com. Check out their site on the web at: www.hunterusg.com/organization.

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Internship Opportunities
A law-related internship can be a great way to explore the legal profession, develop contacts, learn new skills and gain work experience. Becoming familiar with and taking part in legal work may provide you with some insight and direction, and help you write a more focused and interesting personal statement for law school applications. Hunter students have recently been placed in internships with:

• AALDEF (Asian American Legal Defense Fund)
• Chambers of Judge Price (Bronx Criminal Court)
• Catholic Charities (Immigration Law)
• New York Corporation Counsel (New York City’s lawyers)

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Law Mentoring
Hunter’s Law-Mentoring program brings students interested in law school into contact with Hunter alumni successful in the legal profession. The program draws its mentors from its many alumni who are part of New York City’s rich and diverse legal community.  Mentors and mentees are asked to meet twice per semester over the course of two semesters. While the nature of the mentoring relationship will be defined in different ways by each pair, possible mentoring activities include inviting the student to lunch, to a court appearance, closing, business meeting, benefit or bar association activity, or to “shadow” the mentor during a work day. For more information about the Law-Mentoring program, speak to the Pre-Law Advisor.

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Panels and Roundtables
Each year Hunter hosts panels on the legal profession and on law school admissions. Panelists are alumni and friends of Hunter who are lawyers, as well as representatives from law schools in the NYC metro area and beyond. In addition there are opportunities to meet with practicing lawyers during smaller “brown-bag lunches or “round-table” discussions. Come and get a “leg-up” on information about career paths and trends in the legal world. 

Pre-Law events during the 2005-2006 academic year included:

Roundtable talks by alumni who practice in the areas of: 

• banking law
• employment law
• criminal law
• personal injury law 

Panels:

• Law School Admissions
• Intellectual Property and Media Law
• Legal Internships
• Public Interest Law
  
  

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Outside Organizations and Programs
Outside organizations such as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar Association offer programs to help students explore legal careers. Check out the websites of these groups. The following programs, in which Hunter students have recently participated, assist students from groups underrepresented in the legal profession or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds enter law school.

CLEO
CLEO, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, a division of the American Bar Association, runs several programs that aim to help low-income, minority and otherwise disadvantaged students become competitive applicants for law school. Programs include the Sophomore Summer Institute, a four-week long summer program, as well as a 6-week Summer Institute for seniors who will be entering law school or who need assistance with placement at a law school. They also run a 3-day program, “Attitude is Essential,” for seniors entering law school. For more information go to: www.cleoscholars.com.

“I felt that the CLEO “Attitude is Essential” program was extremely helpful. It was held in Atlanta over a three-day weekend. We were reimbursed for expenses. I was able to meet students from all over the U.S. going to a wide variety of law schools. These kids were a really smart bunch, so I felt fortunate to attend!” –A. B. (Hunter '04)

LAWBOUND
This program is run by a partnership between LSAC (Law School Admissions Council) and PRLDEF, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund to increase the number of Latinos who successfully apply to law school. It is a week-long program held in August in which students meet with lawyers, judges and law professors. Participants in the program (and others) can get help year-round from programs run by PRLDEF’s education division. Check out PRLDEF’s web site at: www.PRLDEF.org.

“I found that PRLDEF greatly encouraged me to pursue a career in the legal profession, and has given me invaluable information about achieving this goal. I found PRLDEF’s encouragement to be one of the most valuable aspects of the program.” –T. C. (Hunter '04)

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