Seton Hall Law School’s Leadership Fellows Program, under the direction of Prof. Paula Franzese, is an honors program comprised of third and fourth year law students with demonstrated leadership ability and/or leadership potential. Students selected for the Program participate in the Leadership, Ethics, and Decision-Making course and develop and implement a community-based service project. In the Leadership course students hone decision-making skills, consider the ethical challenges sometimes faced by lawyer-leaders, develop core leadership proficiencies, hone time-management abilities and consider pathways to balance in the legal profession. Distinguished leaders of the bench and bar share their wisdom as part of the Program’s Leadership Speaks lecture series.

This year's class of Leadership Fellows engaged with the community in a variety of ways, launching a website to guide first generation law students on the road to law school and success in law school, partnering with the Association for Children of NJ to create a "know your rights" guide, teaming with a variety of high schools in Newark, Jersey City and beyond to empower those hoping to go to law school, forming a relationship with Girls with Pearls, a mentoring group aimed at empowering young women as they begin their professional careers, and pairing with the U.S. Attorney's Office and U.S. District Court of NJ to facilitate the aims of the ReNew Re-entry Program.

The Leadership Fellows Program at Seton Hall Law provides a unique opportunity for law students to cultivate essential leadership skills through experiential learning, teaching, engaging with select readings, participating in the Leadership Speaks series, and planning and executing a dynamic leadership project. Here is how this year's Leadership Fellows Amy Eng ('20) and Deidre Cooney ('20) describe their experiences in the program: 

On the first day of orientation, Dean Boozang approached the podium and announced an obvious, but difficult truth to grasp: “Ninety-percent of you in this room will not be in the top ten-percent of your class.”  As future lawyers, we know the profound impact grades can have and can get caught in the trap of constantly checking and calculating GPA.  Yet it is a sad and undeniable truth of law school: not everyone can be top of the class.  But this in no way means that the other ninety-percent of the class has no hope of success.  In Professor Paula Franzese’s Leadership Fellows Program and its attendant Leadership, Ethics and Decision-Making class, students learn that grades are only one aspect of a multidimensional you.

The start of a new year and a new semester gives you a do-over – the opportunity for a fresh start. Here are five resolutions to consider for the year ahead:

Law school exams present a unique set of stressors, inducing fear even in the most confident people. When the parade of horribles comes marching in - "I can't do this," "I'll never get all this done," "Everyone is so much more prepared than me," "I don't understand any of this" - stop that procession in its tracks and declare out loud: FEELINGS ARE NOT FACTS. 

Photo: Leadership Fellows Max Mescall, Mary Bessemer, Joanita Gakami, Nick Carlson and Cornelia Szymanski

The Leadership Fellows Program at Seton Hall Law provides a unique opportunity for law students to cultivate essential leadership skills through a series of interactive activities, reflections, and ultimately, through the planning and execution of a leadership project. Here is how Leadership Fellows Mary Bessemer ('18) and Cornelia Szymanski ('18) described their experiences in the program: 

A reminder for all of us fortunate enough to have work to do. 

Continue to be grateful for the work. It will always be your safe harbor against the heartbreaks and sorrows of this life. Keep in mind that you do it not so much for your own sake but on behalf of the countless people and constituencies, most still nameless and unknown to you, who nonetheless are waiting for you to use your emerging expertise to make their lives better. And you will.

These are uncertain times for the promise of equal access to justice for all. Particularly now, it is important that we the lawyers show up to do what we can do: wield our unique expertise to be instigators, catalysts and defenders of the rule of law, the power of reason and the promise of mercy.