The format, schedule, and learning interface of today\u2019s part-time programs might not look familiar to a Mitchell or Hamline student of the 1970s or \u201980s or \u201990s, but the rigor, the connections between students, and the appreciation for a law school option that fits around one\u2019s life are much the same today as they were then.<\/p>\n
Below are glimpses of six students\u2014three former and three current\u2014that illustrate how the innovative part-time programs available today allow students to accomplish their goals just as the earlier part-time programs did in their day.<\/p>\n
Julie Finch: Evening<\/h3>\n
Finch also knew how software licensing worked because her husband and several friends were software engineers.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew the language and the concepts, even if I didn\u2019t know the legalities of it,\u201d Finch said. \u201cIt was a brand new area of law.\u201d<\/p>\n Finch was one of the early presidents of the Student Intellectual Property Law Association at William Mitchell. She had study groups at school and with other law clerks at Honeywell.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really did feel free to call on the expertise of the lawyers who were in the department,\u201d she added. \u201cWe had the opportunity to pick their brains and see things in real-life operation.\u201d<\/p>\n Finch went on to work in IP at Honeywell for 10 years, followed by stints at the state attorney general\u2019s office and two law firms. Just before the second firm, Rider Bennett, dissolved in 2007, she started a branding, copyright, social media, and start-up business law firm from her Apple Valley, Minn., home. Her clients range from IT companies to the fashion industry.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has all really worked out well for me,\u201d Finch said. \u201cEvery phase of practice has had its own challenges and its own great things. I am set up to do this for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Dannecker became pregnant and had to work full-time to support herself and her son. She landed a job at a Minneapolis intellectual property law firm and then became the contracts manager at Ecolab in Eagan, Minn. Dannecker recently left that job and will begin a position as a summer associate with a general practice firm in May 2018. At 35, she is a 2L at Mitchell Hamline, attending evening classes part-time. Next semester, she will attend school full-time while working as a law clerk.<\/p>\n Dannecker studies in the time between work and school and all weekend, except for Fridays, when she takes a break. The evening program accommodates her lifestyle and learning style.<\/p>\n \u201cI really need my butt in the seat with the professor in front of me,\u201d Dannecker said. \u201cI learn best being at the school.\u201d<\/p>\n She enjoys corporate law and property law, though she says she hasn\u2019t settled on a career path yet. She also enjoys the camaraderie among the evening-school students, most of whom are in their 30s and 40s.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all in the same boat together, we have the same stressors,\u201d she said. Her son, now 14, is proud of her for attending law school, but her friends are another story.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reaction most people give is, \u2018Are you nuts?\u2019\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n But Dannecker is grateful for the opportunities she\u2019s had.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have to quit my job in order to go to law school,\u201d she said. \u201cThat for me was a really nice feature of Mitchell Hamline.\u201d<\/p>\n At age 24, Cab\u00e1n-Ramirez enrolled in the first weekend program cohort of Hamline\u2019s law school. At the time, she was working as a paralegal in the immigration department at Rider Bennett, and a colleague told her about this new program Hamline was launching that would let her earn a J.D. while continuing to work full-time.<\/p>\n Most of her classmates were older, married, had children, and were pursuing second careers. She loved it. \u201cIt was an enriching experience because people had had experience in the workplace,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is one of the things that I truly appreciated. People had been out there, they had jobs to do, they had families to take care of.\u201d<\/p>\n Her classmates had a different approach to learning and to classroom collaboration than she had encountered in previous school settings. There was little feeling of competition, and more interesting discussions.<\/p>\n Cab\u00e1n-Ramirez worked full-time at Rider Bennett during law school. She studied anytime she could, finishing in 3\u00bd years. She now has her own immigration and criminal law practice, and her old law school study group still gets together, refers cases to one another, and works together.<\/p>\n At 51, Wells has dreamt of law school for half a lifetime. He was accepted to Creighton University School of Law in 1992, but only to the full-time program, and he had to work full-time to support his family.<\/p>\n Wells went on to earn a master\u2019s degree and a Ph.D. He\u2019s still working full-time, now as a school principal and superintendent in rural Hamburg, Iowa.<\/p>\n He appreciates that the weekend program involves seven weekends on campus each semester, because he learns best in the classroom. Internet service at his home is spotty, so for big projects he\u2019ll sometimes go into work. He says most nights he\u2019s working on schoolwork till midnight or 1 a.m.<\/p>\n Wells plans to retire in four years and volunteer his services as an attorney for people in need, including in criminal defense. Instead, he ended up retiring as president and CEO of the American Automobile Association of Minnesota in 2004 after 30 years of service\u2014all because a professor took a personal interest in him. Crandall was working his way through law school, taking evening classes and loading trucks overnight at UPS when a professor suggested he put his legal education to better use.<\/p>\n That professor, now retired Minnesota Court of Appeals judge and former state Sen. Jack Davies, sent young Crandall to apply for a job at the Capitol. Crandall managed the Senate index, and through that experience he learned the legislative process and met some of the state\u2019s most influential people. Had he not attended night school at William Mitchell, Crandall doubts he would have had the chance to work at the Legislature or at AAA.<\/p>\n Later, because of his experience in the Legislature and his role as general counsel to AAA\u2019s Minnesota chapter, he was appointed by Gov. Wendell Anderson to help craft the state\u2019s no-fault auto insurance bill.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real strength of Mitchell Hamline was that as a student I had real-life experience\u2014with lawyers, legislators, and clients,\u201d Crandall said. \u201cThose experiences strengthened my law school education.\u201d<\/p>\n Prego won a full scholarship in 1996 to the University of Miami for a master\u2019s degree in international relations. He took a job with Merrill Lynch as a way to remain in the United States, and he put aside his dream of becoming a lawyer.<\/p>\n Prego is now senior vice president and group chief compliance officer for a Miami bank and its subsidiaries and president of the bank\u2019s wholly owned broker-dealer. When his daughter was born three years ago, he realized he couldn\u2019t teach her to pursue her dreams if he didn\u2019t pursue his own.<\/p>\n He investigated part-time programs in the Miami area but needed more flexibility to accommodate his schedule. With the HYBRID J.D. program, Prego is able to study online after he puts his daughter to bed each night. Prego\u2019s classmates in the HYBRID J.D. program include a vast array of professionals, doctors, entrepreneurs, a former mayor, and business people.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m learning so much, not only from the faculty but also from each other,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone has such an impressive resume.\u201d<\/p>\n And the exposure to new things has sparked a new interest for Prego. \u201cI\u2019ve been bitten by the litigation bug,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was not expected, but I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n Nancy Crotti is a freelance writer, editor, and speechwriter in St. Paul.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0Nancy Crotti Both William Mitchell and Hamline Law made it possible for people to earn a law degree without giving up work or other commitments. Hamline created Minnesota\u2019s first and only weekend enrollment option in 2001, while Mitchell was founded in 1900 as a night school and only added a full-time day schedule in the … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/converted-Julie_Finch_9664_PRINTSIZE-214x300.jpg\")
Julie Finch ’87<\/strong> chose the night program at William Mitchell so she could find a law-related job during the day, and it turned out to be a fortunate decision. Finch landed a law clerk job in software licensing at Honeywell as a 2L because she did well in contracts and could work daytime hours.<\/p>\nSarah Dannecker: Evening<\/h3>\n
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Sarah Dannecker<\/strong> wanted to start law school right after graduating from Hamline University in 2004, but life got in the way.<\/p>\nTamara Cab\u00e1n-Ramirez: Weekend<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/converted-009_MH_11-06-2017-200x300.jpg\")
By the time she began law school at Hamline University in 2001, Tamara Cab\u00e1n-Ramirez \u201904<\/strong> was long accustomed to being among the youngest in her class. She began kindergarten in Bayam\u00f3n, Puerto Rico, at age 4, and started at the University of Minnesota at 16.<\/p>\nMike Wells: Weekend<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/CONVERTED-Mike-Wells-227x300.jpg\")
Mike Wells<\/strong> drives seven hours one way every other weekend to attend classes at Mitchell Hamline, camping or staying in military housing to save money on hotels. The rest of the time, he\u2019s working online.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe want to do God\u2019s work and help people,\u201d he said of himself and his wife, \u201cand that\u2019s something that Mitchell Hamline is really good about. They are very good about giving back to the community, helping others.
\n\u201cWithout Mitchell Hamline\u2019s program, there\u2019s no way I could have done this,\u201d he added. \u201cI really am grateful, and I appreciate the opportunity. Now I just have to pass everything.\u201d<\/p>\nJake Crandall: Evening<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/CONVERTED-005_MH_Jake_FPO-200x300.jpg\")
Jake Crandall \u201973<\/strong> planned to work in labor law, return home to Austin, Minn., and run for the state Legislature.<\/p>\nMartin Prego: HYBRID J.D. program<\/h3>\n
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Growing up in Buenos Aires, 3L HYBRID J.D. program student Martin Prego<\/strong> knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He also wanted to live in the United States, so going to law school in Argentina didn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n
\n“This is a fantastic program for many reasons for someone who wants to go full-time but also have a full-time life in terms of having a job and family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n