preLaw - Back to School 2007 - (Page 21) extended descriptions and direct advice on the Whittier website, and a summer program for entering students. Jason House, a 2L this fall, used Whittier’s Academic Success Program to prepare for his first year, just finished. “It helped me adjust to the rigors of law school,” House said. He supports the school’s commitment to diversity. “Ideally a lawyer is going to represent all people — justice to all, not a select few,” House said. “A school’s job is to prepare students for every case, in all areas.” “If it’s doing its job, a school is reaching out to a variety of communities,” Cogan said. “We’re not here to train only the best and brightest, but to train lawyers for society — all communities, rich or poor, and all ethnic groups.” This means the school wants to look at something other than the LSAT or the GPA. “[Those aren’t] the nature of law,” Cogan said. “When it comes to law, the person with the highest LSAT or the highest GPA doesn’t necessarily make the best lawyer.” It’s also, he says, about social skills and life experience. “Not all these kinds of students succeed the first time on the bar exam, but when they do, they’re damn good attorneys.” Cogan says many of the school’s students are the first generation in their families to speak English, or to attend college. It follows that they need extra help to write a law school exam or take the bar exam. A regularly scheduled 2006 ABA visit produced what Cogan calls a stellar report, with praise for Whittier’s improvements, as well as the programs that got them there. Cogan plans to make that case to the ABA this summer, when the school’s twoyear probation is up for review. In the meantime, the school is staying true to its commitment to diversity. “Our whole vision when we started was we’re a school available to a whole variety of people from different backgrounds, makeups, credentials, and so on — and that continues,” he said. Go to www.NationalJurist.com and visit the Regional School’s page for more news stories on a law school near you. International Criminal Law and Justice Pierce Law announces a new graduate degree program designed to prepare the next generation of leaders who will be confronting the global issues of criminal law and justice. Two White Street • Concord, NH 03301 www.piercelaw.edu • 603.228.1541 graduateprograms @ piercelaw.edu www.preLawInsider.com Back to School 2006 21 http://www.NationalJurist.com http://www.piercelaw.edu http://www.piercelaw.edu http://www.preLawInsider.com
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