Pre-law certificate program to be offered at CU

Students interested in law school will soon be able to find out first-hand if a career in law is right for them, through the pre-law certificate program.

CU offers several law-related classes in the philosophy department; one in engineering and one in the business school. Director of Academic Affairs for UCSU Matthew A. Cucchiaro, a 23-year-old senior psychology major, recently created the program.

Cucchiaro said the idea for the law certificate was fostered out of student interest.

“I’ve known a lot of students who talked to me about some type of pre-law program. We have a ton of law-related classes,” Cucchiaro said.

“There was no way to cater to people who wanted a structure to it. There’s been so much interest in law school and many people don’t know of one tenth the law classes we offer. People aren’t sure if they want to go to law school. This was my first vision as director and the pre-law advisor liked it, things took off from there.” Cucchiaro said.

The program has two parts, Cucchiaro said; one part assessment and the other, preparation. The assessment portion covers perhaps the most fundamental part of the program: does the student really want to go to law school or be an attorney?

Cucchiaro described the class requirements students will have as mostly grouped under “outside perspectives.” Any law-related classes that give students an idea of the law, without actually studying the law itself, make up the majority of the classes in outside perspectives. This excludes case law.

There is a small segment which covers case law, taught by Professor and Pre-law Advisor Doug Costain: Constitutional Law I.

This part of the program is key, in that if the student realizes they do not want to continue on the pre-law route, they have possibly saved thousands in tuition dollars, averted a career they wouldn’t have liked and even saved countless hours figuring this out. If the student is determined to continue, he or she will move on to the preparation aspect.

The second half of the program, dealing with preparation, covers logic and writing. These two basic elements are vital in preparing for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and law school. Students will be required to take these classes because several portions of the LSAT deal with problem solving and writing.

Cucchiaro said the program should be starting next year.

“We’re aiming to start [the program] in fall 2010,” Cucchiaro said. “We’re in the proposal stage now and I’m writing one up from the talks with the coalition. [The coalition will] meet all at once and then when everyone decides on changes to be made and it’s finalized we will present it to either the arts and sciences school or office of the vice chancellor. This certificate, like others, will go on your resume.”

Nick Gates, a 20-year-old junior psychology major, said he’s interested in law as well as the certificate program.

“I know other schools have pre-law majors and if CU doesn’t, its good they’re finally coming up with something,” Gates said. “I want to take the May LSATs and would definitely do better if I could take more law classes. I don’t think this will help like a major could; I don’t get why it can’t be a major.”

Cucchiaro said the certificate program will tailor course requirements according to what law advisors will approve of.

“Law schools don’t want undergrads to focus on law so our certificate will probably focus on a few courses, like four or five,” Cucchiaro said. “We don’t want students taking a lot of classes and then law advisors not liking that.”

Costain said law schools want to be the ones to teach you the law. Although, he added, it would be fantastic for students to be able to assess their confidence and interest in the law as well.

In order to help educate prospective law students, Cucchiaro said events will be hosted with law students speaking about their experiences- lawyers in corporate law and several other professionals sharing their views and tips.

In the more recent past, Cucchiaro said he has been working on an LSAT preparation course which students can sign up for starting in December.

Cucchiaro said the class is restricted to low income students as long as they demand it. There are 100 spots in the spring and if, say 80 spots are filled by low income students, the extra 20 spots will be open to the rest of the student body.

“The idea is to target people who can’t afford $1,400 on Kaplan and Princeton preparation courses,” Cucchiaro said. “The course will be $100, last eight weeks, with three hour sessions and will be taught by a former Kaplan instructor who currently holds his own practice. It will start in February to prepare students for the May LSAT.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Adrian Kun at Adrian.kun@colorado.edu.