Jurisprudence Learning Community

• Earn course credit (four credit commitment - three credits in the fall semester, one credit in the spring semester)
• Attend field trips in and around the D.C. area
• Meet and network with leaders throughout the legal profession
• Pursue opportunities for leadership development
• Benefit from law school admissions guidance and resources 
• Learn alongside students with similar interests and career goals
• Participate in career workshops and study groups with guidance from legal studies faculty and staff

This community is open to any interested sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

The Jurisprudence Learning Community will help you connect with social and academic programs designed to help students with an interest in law, such as the Black Justice Association, Patriot Pre-Law Program, and career services.

You'll also be encouraged to identify organizations and activities in the D.C. area that align with your interests and engage with them. Both individually and as a group, community members will reflect on how these experiences impact their personal and professional goals.

Past and future events include: 

• A weekly dinner series with high-profile speakers for participating LC students. Speakers have included the Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, and the Senior Advisor to the Speaker of the House.
• An overnight trip to Richmond, VA for customized tours and meetings at the Supreme Court of VA, the state capitol building, and the University of Richmond Law School.
• A law school admissions tour and class visit at GMU’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
• Workshops for students applying to law school.
• A customized field trip to DC with tours of the Department of Justice, Hogan Lovells, and the DC Courts of Appeals.

Galeas joined the Jurisprudence Learning Community, because he knew the program would give him a better understanding of how workers’ rights cases, which impact his day job, became law. Through the yearlong JPLC, Galeas learned about civil rights and constitutional law both in and out of the classroom including visits to the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond, the U.S. Congress, and the Department of Justice. 

Galeas credits the JPLC with giving him tools he could immediately apply in other classes, as well as in his professional job of labor organizing.

Thanks to his experiences with the JPLC and the Schar School, Galeas now wants to pursue a master’s in public policy after he graduates in May 2023. Ultimately, he plans to use his education for the advocacy work that originally inspired him. 

“I would like to do lobbying for unions or for nonprofits that advocate for access to education, health care, housing, and reform of the criminal justice system, which are all very important,” he said.

Read the full profile on Ernesto. 

View all Jurisprudence Learning Community stories