Career & Leadership Development

Pre-Law

Sewanee has a proven record of educating men and women who have gone on to successful legal careers in the private practice of law, the corporate world, government and the armed forces, non-profits and as professors at law schools. To cite a few  examples from a large number, Sam Elliott ’78 has recently completed a term as President of the Tennessee State Bar, while Angus Macaulay ’86 has begun a term as President of the South Carolina State Bar. Robin Rotman ’04 has joined the firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, after completing her law degree at Yale and working in the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. At a different stage of their careers, David Barnes ’05 graduated first in his class at Vanderbilt Law School in May of 2011, while during the same month Ryan Barry ’08 graduated first in his class at the University of Tennessee School of Law.

Such outcomes are the result of many things, but at Sewanee it is clear that bright, engaged undergraduates greatly benefit from a rigorous liberal arts curriculum taught by faculty members committed to the life of the mind and to mentoring as well as challenging their students. As Brannon Denning ’92 who is now Professor of Law at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University put it, “With Sewanee’s emphasis on critical thinking, as well as effective oral and written communication, students—whatever their major—find themselves well-prepared for the rigors of law school.  Moreover, the close student-faculty ties encouraged at Sewanee mean that students are eager to establish similar relationships with law school faculty.  Those interactions are not only helpful to a student’s education, but can be very important professionally as well.”