USM’s Pre-Law Week: A Success for Legal Eagles
Thu, 10/19/2023 - 09:32am | By: Caroline Neese
Student Kalli Cox with Judge Sheila Smawood
The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) Legal Studies Program in its School of Social Science and Global Studies hosted its annual Pre-Law Week last month. All students interested in attending law school were invited to participate in events.
“Pre-Law Week is an important component of initiatives at USM designed to strengthen and support relationships among our students, law schools and the legal profession to ensure that our aspiring Legal Eagles are well-prepared and competitive for their future,” said Dr. Lisa Nored, pre-law pathways coordinator in the Preprofessional Office and professor in the School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Security.
This year, the Legal Studies program partnered with the USM Alumni Association and the Legal Eagles alumni group for the inaugural “Dinner with a Dozen Legal Eagles” where members of the local bench and bar din with students who plan to attend law school. The was a great opportunity for students to network and connect with legal professionals in the community, as well as Southern Miss alumni in the legal field.
Jerry DeFatta, executive director of the Southern Miss Alumni Association, expressed the value of hosting networking events with alumni.
Attorneys Donna Powe Green and Scott Schwartz networking with USM students.
“The Dinner with a Dozen Legal Eagles event held during Pre-Law Week provided a great opportunity for our successful former students working in a wide variety of roles in the legal profession to do just that. We are looking forward to continuing this partnership in the future to provide more additional networking opportunities for our students and alumni,” said DeFatta.
The alumni in attendance included: Judge Sheila Smallwood, Chancery Court Judge; Moran M. "Randy" Pope, City of Hattiesburg, Municipal Attorney; Scott Schwartz, Attorney at Law; Donna Powe Green, Green Law Firm; Jack Denton, Denton Law Firm; Manion Anderson, McHard, McHard, Anderson & Associates; Brehm Bell, Chair of Legal Eagles Alumni Group; William "Billy" Newman, retired USM Legal Studies faculty member; Jeff Cook, General Counsel, Forrest General Hospital; Patrick Murphy, Murphy Law Firm; and Joe D. Stevens, Wise, Carter, Child & Caraway.
Chancery Court Judge and Southern Miss alumnus, Sheila Smallwood, attended the “Dinner with a Dozen Legal Eagles” to help students understand the process of getting into the legal field.
“Unless you have a contact or family in the legal field, it can be hard to get any idea of the complexity of the legal system in action. It’s important for students to get some personal observation of the process - to see it,” said Smallwood.
Kalli Cox, a communication studies major with minor in criminal justice, was one of the students who participated in the week's events.
“I cannot emphasize enough how important Pre-Law Week is simply because of how many connections you can make,” said Cox. “I have made connections with attorneys, prosecutors, judges, law school professors, etc. There are so many professionals around Hattiesburg and USM that want to help you and provide you with the best advice possible.”
Local attorney Donna Powe Green, an alumna of Southern Miss Honors College and a member of the Green Law Firm, was also present at the event. She actively engaged with students, offering valuable guidance to help point them in the right direction of what area of law they may be interested in pursuing.
“The alum group came from a varied background with expertise in the private sector, corporate, government, and academic; litigation and transactional; with litigators in both civil and criminal law. Within these groups, there were practitioners from each side,” said Green. “This variety afforded students the opportunity to talk to practitioners with experience in the areas of law that most intrigued them.”
Green also uses these events as an opportunity to network with potential employees.
“Personally, I hoped to meet students who might be interested in employment opportunities so my law firm could reconnect with the USM student community and once again hire students who are interested in law to work part-time while pursuing undergraduate degrees,” said Green.
Coordinated by Amanda Butler, academic services coordinator for legal studies, and faculty member Michelle Smith, Pre-Law Week is hosted annually and gives students the opportunity to explore all the facets of pursuing a career in law. The program includes taking a practice Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), learning more about the law school application process, and attending a mock law-school lecture.
“I learned various things about the law school application process during my time at Pre-Law Week that I was unaware of beforehand. I also learned about many benefits provided to students applying to law schools such as fee waivers, LSAT help, and law school tours,” said Cox.
This week is just one of the several Pre-Law initiatives at USM, which also includes the Pre-Law services and events offered by USM's Preprofessional Office, dedicated to preparing students for the legal field. To learn more visit usm.edu/preprofessional.