Welcome Incoming Class of 2025!
On behalf of Santa Clara Law Enrollment and Operations, congratulations on deciding to pursue your JD at Santa Clara Law! We are thrilled to welcome you to our community of advocates and changemakers.
This year, we received over 30% more applications than in previous years. From this exceptional pool of applicants, we carefully selected a class of bright, motivated individuals, and we are so proud that you are among them!
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As you enjoy your summer and begin to prepare for this exciting next chapter, know that our Law Admissions and Financial Aid team is here for you every step of the way. We are happy to work with you to ensure you have the resources, information, and support you need to feel confident and ready to begin your 1L year this August.
Congratulations once again, we can’t wait to welcome you home to Santa Clara Law in just over a month! |
What Should I Be Doing the Summer Before My 1L Year?
One of the most common questions we receive from incoming students is: “What should I be doing this summer to get ready for law school?”
Your 1L professors don’t expect you to show up with any legal expertise—that’s what you’re coming here to learn! Diving into legal materials too early (especially commercial prep programs) can create confusion and accidentally establish poor habits.
If you're looking for things to do in the summer to help you feel more prepared for your first year of law school, the Office of Academic and Bar Success and the Office of Career Management have put together some helpful tips:
- Start building your reading stamina: Law school involves a lot of reading—more than most students expect. A great way to warm up is by reading a high-quality newspaper daily, like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. Challenge yourself by reading articles outside your usual areas of interest and consider reading them in print when possible (you’ll retain more than when skimming on a screen).
- If you’re the type who enjoys reading for fun, two books we recommend are “Getting to Maybe” and “Reading Like a Lawyer”.
- Get your resume law-school ready: Now is a great time to update your resume to make it law school-ready (which is most likely a bit different than the resume you used to apply to law school)! Legal employers like to see things in certain places on resumes, and it should be very simple (i.e. no color or fancy fonts). You can check out the 1L resume sample to help guide you.
- If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Office of Career Management at law-ocm@scu.edu.
- Use this time to establish good habits. The start of law school brings a major shift in how you manage your time. Practicing now with tools like a digital calendar or planner can be helpful.
- Spend time with the people you care about. Law school is a big commitment, and we know your schedule will change dramatically once classes begin. Take this summer to rest, recharge, and enjoy time with friends and family!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Office of Academic and Bar Success success@scu.edu and the Office of Career Management law-ocm@scu.edu for support!
Meet the Team: The Office of Career Management
The Office of Career Management is excited to welcome you in the Fall! Get to know the team that will help guide your career advancement through law school and beyond!
Charney Chatter
Looking for something good to watch, read, or listen to? We asked some of our faculty and staff what their favorite legal movie, series, or book is. Here’s what they had to say!
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Professor Taylor Dalton
"There are so many to choose from, but To Kill a Mockingbird and Judgment at Nuremberg are terrific legal dramas that highlight the difficult choices lawyers and judges have to make in working toward justice. Yet, the classic Legally Blonde is probably the most rewatchable film about law school (note the discussion of a civil procedure case in the movie!)."
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Caitlin Robinett Jachimowicz, Senior Assistant Dean, Law Enrollment, Strategy, and Operations and Professor
"My favorite legal television dramas include The Good Wife and Goliath. Because I love public policy, The West Wing helped solidify my decision to go to law school. My favorite law-related podcast is NPR's "More Perfect". I was actually named after a character in the Paul Newman film, The Verdict. The first student who finds me at orientation and correctly identifies the profession of my namesake in the film will win a small prize!"
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Professor Sean Bland
“My favorite law-related movie is My Cousin Vinny, and my favorite law-related book is Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, a groundbreaking scholarly work by Dorothy Roberts that examines the historical and ongoing oppression of Black women’s reproductive rights in the United States.
I am a big fan of Marisa Tomei who won an Academy Award for her performance in My Cousin Vinny. Tomei also acted in the first American television series primarily set at a historically Black college. The series was one of the first to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Find me at orientation or in the first week of classes if you know the television series. I will be really impressed if you tell me the name of the fictional college in the series, which is located in my home state. I am happy to chat about law-related books and television shows, the state where I grew up, why I moved to California, or the intersections of law, health, race, gender, and sexuality.”
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Sarah Brockmeyer, Director of International Programs
"My recommendations are: Boston Legal over Suits any day. I'm also currently re-reading Terrorizing Latina/o Immigrants (written by Santa Clara University sociology professor Anna Sampaio) - 10 years on and it's more relevant than ever." |
Have Your Plans Changed?
If you are no longer interested in attending Santa Clara Law as part of the incoming fall 2025 class, we kindly ask that you notify us by email as soon as possible. This allows us to offer your seat to another deserving student on our waitlist.
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