Pre-Law Club
The UAF Pre-Law Club, founded by UAF students in 2023, is a student led organization advised by the Pre-Law advisor in the Political Science Department. The Club meets regularly and engages in a variety of activities aimed at supporting students interested in learning about careers in law and/or preparing for law school. In its first year, the Club hosted guest speakers including numerous legal practitioners as well as court magistrates who discussed their legal advocacy and career path in law, in addition to the process by which they applied to and completed law school.
The Club meetings sometimes focused on preparing students to write their law school application essays and collaborating to solve logic puzzles from sample questions from the LSAT (the test required for admission to law school). And Club members had fun with law doing online games during meetings to evaluate the legal claims of online “clients” who presented the facts of their constitutional claims to the group. After a very successful first year of activities, the Pre-Law Club finished the academic year with a movie night watching a classic law school film, complete with pizza, popcorn, and a Q&A with two attorneys after the film to discuss what about the film was accurate and what was simply movie drama.
The Pre-Law Club invites any and all undergraduates and graduates interested in law to join its email list to get notices about upcoming meetings and events. Please click the link to the right to be added to the Pre-Law Club email list or email Pre-Law Advisor Attorney Carol Gray at cjgray5@alaska.edu with any questions.
Officers of the Pre-Law Club with Director of Admissions Luke Cairney from Gonzaga School of Law in Spokane Washington which has a Memorandum of Understanding with UAF to allow UAF students a path to law school that will save them one year of undergraduate tuition and coursework in what is called a 3 + 3 program.
Above photo, left to right: Matia Wartes (President), Luke Cairney (Gonzaga Director of Admissions), Ivy Daly (Secretary), and Maria Arnett (Vice President) | Photo by Carol J. Gray
Mission statement
It shall be the mission of the UAF Pre-Law Club to educate and support University of Alaska students on all topics relating to Law, including, but not limited to, applying to and attending law schools, succeeding in law and political science courses, law-related internships, and jobs.
2023-2024 Officers
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Pre-Law Club attendees at a meeting eat pizza while playing an online game where hypothetical clients walk into a virtual law office and present facts of their case. The club attendees discussed whether their constitutional rights were violated and how.
Officers of the Pre-Law Club with Luke Cairney, the Director of Admissions from Gonzaga University School of Law. From left to right: Matia Wartes (Pre-Law Club President), Luke Cairney, Ivy Daly (Pre-Law Club Secretary), Maria Arnett (Pre-Law Club Vice-President). This photo was taken at the signing ceremony for the MOU about the UAF / Gonzaga 3+3 program.
Pre-Law Club officers and members with Faculty Carol Gray, Dean Ellen Lopez pose at the signing ceremony for the MOU about the UAF / Gonzaga 3+3 program with Luke Cairney, the Director of Admissions from Gonzaga University School of Law.
Pre-Law Club meeting attendees. From left to right: Owen Adams, Zoe Schneider, Rob Ziegler, Maria Arnett, Zandeleigh Silva, Ivy Daly, Matia Wartes, and Carol Gray.