Pre-Law Advising

Why pursue pre-law advising at Whitworth?

• Learn from faculty members who are former lawyers. Our professors work individually with you to teach you the kind of writing and thinking that law school requires.
• Receive excellent preparation for law school. Our graduates report that they are more prepared to succeed in law school than their peers. Several of our classes are taught in the same style used in law school, and you'll also learn relevant skills like briefing cases.
• Work as a research assistant for faculty working on law-related projects.
• Gain real-world experience. Our students work in internships with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, World Relief's immigration division and other organizations.
• Take a variety of courses that will prepare you for law school, including American National Politics, International Law, Constitutional Law, Law & Society, Logic, Ethics, Mass Media Law, and Business Law.
• Become who you're meant to be.

Ask our faculty

Our pre-law advising grads make a difference (and get jobs)

Whitworth graduates who earn a law degree join firms, become prosecutor or defense attorneys, or practice law with a nonprofit group. They also go into business, work for the government, start their own nonprofits, become real-estate professionals or follow a variety of other career paths.

Recent job placements include:

• Aaron Korthuis, staff attorney with the Impact Litigation Unit of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Seattle
• Clinton Lipscomb, litigation associate with Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, member of the firm’s Anti-Corruption & Internal Investigations practice group, Washington, D.C.
• Jonathan Kim, associate with Foster Pepper’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice, Seattle
• Julie Caruso, attorney for the Washington State House of Representatives, Olympia, Wash.
• Taylor Faranda Korthuis, senior attorney, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Seattle
• Saundra Richartz, senior staff counsel, Washington State Senate Republican Caucus, Olympia
• Caleb Mathena, associate attorney, Fain Anderson VanDerhoef Rosendahl O’Halloran Spillane (FAVROS) PLLC, Seattle
• Kevin Gleim, assistant attorney general, Oregon Department of Justice, Salem, Ore.
• Michelle Rusk, counsel, Washington State House of Representatives - Office of Program Research, Olympia
• Noah Patterson, first assistant attorney general, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Denver, Colo.
• Devin Falck, assistant district attorney, Williamson County District Attorney's Office, Georgetown, Texas
• Matthew Spencer, deputy public defender, Colorado State Public Defenders Office, Pueblo, Colo.

Our recent pre-law advising graduates further their studies in top law programs at institutions including:

• Yale University
• Harvard University
• UCLA
• University of Michigan
• Northwestern University
• University of Washington
• University of Oregon
• Gonzaga University
• Seattle University
• Willamette University
• NYU
• American University
• Georgetown University School of Law
• American University School of Law
• University of Arizona School of Law
• Pepperdine School of Law

What related majors can I explore?

Pre-law students are welcome to select any liberal arts major, but they may find the most relevant law-school preparation in programs offered in the following areas:

• History
• Political Science
• English
• Philosophy
• Business Management
• Economics
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Mathematics
• Science (Biology; Chemistry; Physics; Biophysics; Engineering)

Frequently asked questions

What courses should I take to prepare for law school?

Any liberal-arts major that encourages you to think, write, analyze evidence and read a lot is good preparation for law school. Law schools do not recommend any particular major. There are no required courses for admission to law school. Your grades and LSAT score are important, as are letters of recommendation and your personal statement. Law schools are looking for people who can contribute something to society. Students who just want money and power are less attractive to law schools than they used to be. 

There are several courses that can prepare you for law school, but none of these are required. All law students should know something about their own government, so courses like American National Politics, Law and Society, Poverty and Community Development, and International Relations are all good background. These are political-science courses.

Constitutional Law is a course that teaches students how to read cases and how to write briefs. These skills are developed in law school, but many alumni tell us that this sort of advanced preparation was extremely valuable to them. International Law emphasizes the law of states and natural law. These courses have American National Politics as a prerequisite.

Logic, a philosophy course, is good preparation for the LSAT exam. Ethics is also good background for any student.

Business Law introduces students to the concept of contract law, torts and so forth. Media Law, in communications, is a good background to the First Amendment. There may be prerequisites to these courses.

Take courses that are demanding. Write and write and write.

In addition, internships can be very important.

How should I prepare for the LSAT?

First, be familiar with the Law School Admissions Council website: www.lsac.org. This site has preparation materials for the exam. Several sample questions can be found online as well, at http://exampedia.org/wiki/LSAT_Test.

Second, there are two ways for you to prepare for the exam itself. You can take a prep course like Kaplan's, Princeton Review, Sherwood, Blackstone, or a course held at a local law school. And you can prepare by working through books sold by these same course organizations. These books are available at most bookstores. Get several and take the same tests over and over to really familiarize yourself with the style of questions.

I recommend that students start playing Sudoku early in their college careers. This game trains your mind to think ahead several steps as you are working out logic puzzles. Then, take the Logic course offered by the philosophy department. The LSAT has reading comprehension, writing and lots of logic puzzles. Finally, take about six months to work through LSAT prep books like Kaplan's and Barron's. Work a couple of hours a day, five days a week. Pay close attention to the instructions in the book for how to attack each different type of logic puzzle. Some students have also found the book The Logic Bible to be of help. After you have worked on this yourself for several months, you can take a prep course. Not all students find the prep course to be necessary, but many feel that it provides a little last-minute confidence boost.

There are students who take the LSAT cold and do well. This is rare.

What financial aid is available for law school? (Be careful about websites that offer you information for a price.) Helpful link:

• moneygeek.com/education/graduate-school/financial-aid/law-school-scholarships

Additional information

• Whitworth's Law & Justice Minor
• The Law School Admissions Council
  Get familiar with the Law School Admissions Council website: www.lsac.org. This website has all the information for the Law School Admissions Exam, the entrance exam for law school. You register for the test on the website, and you can get information about every law school in the nation here. In addition, the site has a place for you to enter your GPA and your LSAT score to figure out your chances of being admitted to any particular law school.
  Julia Stronks, Whitworth's pre-law advisor, will work with you one-on-one as you prepare your application for law school. Contact her via email at jstronks@whitworth.edu.
  For additional one-on-one help, click here.
• Law-Related Careers