A pre-law conference kicked off Thursday with a talk by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) President Nadine Strossen, who described her affinity for the legal profession.
"Since I've gotten out of law school, I did many things," Strossen said, "but . . . I really, really love being a lawyer."
The half-hour talk in Robertson Hall was attended by roughly 40 people.
The talk and conference was one of the first major initiatives of the Pre-Law Society, begun last year.
"This [conference] has been in the works for a very long time," society president and founder Derek Raphael '06 said. "We wanted to give students a taste of law before they apply to law school."
About 30 Princeton alumni and 70 students take part in the conference.
Michael Fitts, dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, will discuss the process of applying to law school at 4:30 p.m. today in Dodds Auditorium.
His lecture will be followed by panel discussions led by Princeton alumni who are currently attending or have recently attended law school.
Strossen's story
Strossen, also a New York University law professor, explained the merits of a legal education.
She said that not only does law school provide a wonderful education in critical thinking, analysis and problem solving, but it also is a valuable credential.
"People always respect lawyers," she said. "Lawyer jokes are simply backhanded compliments to those [lawyers] who take positions that others don't want to hear."
On a more serious note, Strossen said her law degree afforded her certain "smarts" in society, at a time when there were few women lawyers.
"The fact I was a lawyer made me be taken more seriously by others," she said.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Strossen returned to her hometown of Minneapolis, where she practiced in a small law firm.
"At the time, I wanted to avoid the routines of large-city firms – carrying somebody's briefcase and doing mostly document work," Strossen explained.
After two years of intensive experience, she later took up a corporate litigation post with Sullivan and Cromwell, an established Wall Street firm.
In 1991, she became the first female president of the ACLU.
Social justice had always been an integral part of Strossen's outlook as a lawyer.
"I went to law school in the 1970s when many [students] had social reform in their minds," she noted.
Since then, Strossen added, lawyers have brought about a constructive dialogue of change, particularly in gay rights and abortion issues.
"So many injustices out there can be rectified by simply having the tools to do them," she said.
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