Franklin Pierce Law Program Prepares Students to Practice Immediately

Crystal Maldonado graduated from Franklin Pierce Law Center last May, but she didn't spend her first summer the way most recent law school graduates do. She was actually practicing law. "Within five weeks of graduation—while everyone else was studying for the bar exam—I had gone to court, cross-examined the plaintiff, put my client on the stand and won my very first case."

Maldonado was one of thirteen students in the first graduating class of the unique Daniel Webster Scholars Honors Program. Scholars complement their Pierce Law coursework with rigorous applied training in professional skills and judgment through simulations, clinics and externships, and are then eligible for admission to the New Hampshire bar upon graduation.

"Many law students do not have the opportunity to conduct depositions with real court stenographers, conduct interrogatories, argue in front of state judges, receive interview experience and work with real clients in their second year," Maldonado notes.  "I believe that the Daniel Webster Scholars program has prepared me for my legal career in a way that traditional law school classes never could."

Students apply to the program after their first year of law school and Scholars are selected based on their law school grades and background.  The program is presently limited to fifteen students per class but is likely to be expanded .

With its focus on preparing students for the profession, Pierce Law is  implementing improvements in the curriculum.  This year Pierce Law becomes the first law school in the United States to combine software simulation with "standardized clients." Mirroring the medical school model, actors portray clients, presenting a variety of issues and circumstances to which students respond.

Learn more about this program at www.piercelaw.edu/websterscholar