Duke Law Summer Prelaw Fellowship introduces Elon students to legal education

Elon students Jazmine Langley '19 and David Duncan '19 are among 20 students selected to participate in Duke Law School's inaugural Prelaw Fellowship this summer.

Two members of Elon University’s Class of 2019 participated in Duke Unversity School of Law’s inaugural Prelaw Fellowship this summer. 

In an effort to enhance inclusivity and diversity at Duke University’s Law School, Director of Diversity Initiatives Ebony Bryant created a two-week residential fellowship program, unprecedented in southern legal institutions, designed to introduce rising juniors to legal education. The highly selective inaugural program included 20 students from across the country including Elon’s Jazmine Langley ’19 and David Duncan ’19, with the first cohort focused on students from institutions based in the Southeast.

Jasmine Langley '19
During the program, students participated in two first-year law courses, learned from admissions counselors and alumni of the law school, and engaged in a Kaplan designed LSAT prep course. The program culminated in a ceremony featuring an address by N.C. state Sen. and Duke Law alumni Floyd McKissick Jr.. Each student received a $400 stipend to offset any summer job wages lost as a result of their participation in the program.

Duncan is majoring in psychology and minoring in Spanish and leadership studies. Alongside Assistant Professor of Human Services Carmen Monico, he is conducting research investigating the effects of the fear of deportation on the health of Hispanic college immigrant students in North Carolina. Duncan is interested in pursuing a career in immigration law and applied to the Duke Prelaw program because of Duke’s nationally recognized legal clinics and the vibrant hispanic community within the Raleigh-Durham area.

Langley is a political science major (domestically focused) with minors in African and African-American studies, criminal justice and poverty and social justice. She applied to the fellowship program because she hopes to pursue public interest, civil rights litigation, or criminal defense after law school. She is also interested in criminal justice reform and the inequities present in that specific institution. This spring, she will study abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa taking a number of classes in race, social justice and inequality.