The Pre-Law Club held its first meeting of the semester Thursday, kicking off the new school year by welcoming a local district court judge as speaker, on the third floor of the A-State Humanities and Social Sciences building.

The opening event for the Pre-Law Club was accompanied with a Build-Your-Own-Taco stand, courtesy of the local Mexican restaurant Casa De La Fiesta. As attendees lined up to build their taco, executive staff of the club welcomed the crowd of arriving students, overflowing with both returning and new club members.

The Pre-Law Club aims to organize efforts that will best prepare A-State students for their career path in the legal field. Levi Seward, a senior political science major and Pre-Law Club president from Blytheville, Arkansas, shared his intent for the club following their first meeting.

“As far as this year, we just want to be a guiding light for the students, for the student community, in absence of a law school,” Seward said. “It’s our student organization’s role to fill those gaps to prepare students for life beyond undergrad and a career in law.”

Moving forward from past years, the Pre-Law Club is seeing a renovation in their Law School Admission Test (LSAT) study sessions, another service offered by the club to assist undergrad students with law school applications. 

John Thompson, a junior political science major and Pre-Law Club government, law & policy chair from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, discussed the priority of this new initiative moving forward.

“Our main goal [this year] is just trying to prepare students for the LSAT, we are actually going to be doing that very differently this semester because we actually want people to be able to retain information and just be able to give the LSAT their best foot forward,” Thompson said.

As students sat for the meeting’s initiation, they were greeted by district court Judge Tommy Fowler, who was the guest presenter for the club’s opening event. A night of delicious Mexican food paired with an insight of the realities of a career in the legal field, as Judge Fowler shared his perspective and experience with student attendees. 

An A-State alumni and 1993 R.E. Lee Wilson Award recipient, Fowler represented the university upon his return, spreading wisdom to current students looking to follow in his footsteps in the legal field and emphasizing the value of integrity for future members of the profession.

As the meeting came to an end, the new members of the club left with a promising introduction to the Pre-Law Club. Anthony Lopez, a third-year economics major and Pre-Law Club business chair from Jonesboro, said he hopes students interested in law stop by a meeting. 

“If you’re a student interested in law, [the Pre-Law Club] wants you to know that we’re here to help you,” Lopez said. “Even if you don’t know what you want to do yet, just come, stop by, and give law a try.”

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