Questrom School of Business freshman Jiabi Cai will be bringing a new chapter of the co-ed law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta to campus this fall, making it the first law fraternity at Boston University.
The chapter is still in its planning stages, Cai said. This semester, she is focused on recruiting interested students. In September, she will be meeting with the Student Activities Office to begin the official process of bringing the group to campus.
Cai said the group will give its members exposure to the legal field, as well as providing them with opportunities to give back to the community. The group will be different from other fraternities because of the broad scope of legal work, which can be applied to many other fields.
“It intersects with so many other fields like business or engineering, or hospitality,” Cai said. “I think it’ll be really good for [students of] any major to join it.”
Nancy Huang, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she thinks the fraternity could be helpful for pre-law students to get to know each other.
“I know that they have [fraternities] for business and stuff,” Huang said, “so I’m sure it would be helpful for [law students], too.”
From mock law competitions to discounted test prep resources for the LSAT and bar exam, the fraternity will offer students the chance to see if law is the right field for them, Cai said.
“Being a member of Phi Alpha Delta will really help [pre-law] students realize what they could gain from being in the legal field,” Cai said. “It’s not just like being in a biology fraternity or a business fraternity because everything we do will correlate with everything in the legal field.”
CAS freshman Maggie Evans said she thinks the fraternity could be useful for law students to find and support each other.
“I think it would be great if [pre-law] students had a community that they can be a part of,” Evans said.
Cory Freeman, Director of Communications for Phi Alpha Delta, International, said Phi Alpha Delta is dedicated to empowering students and their communities, as well as the legal profession.
The fraternity has over 600 chapters nationwide, making it the second-largest legal organization in the United States, behind the American Bar Association, according to Freeman.
While there is a social component to the fraternity, Freeman said, its main focus is supporting its members through skill-building and exposure, as opposed to typical Greek life organizations.
The organization offers skill-building workshops, networking opportunities and resume-building, among other opportunities, in order to help students reach their full potential, Freeman said.
“P.A.D.’s mission is to advance integrity, compassion and courage through service to the student, the school, the profession and the community,” Freeman wrote in an email.
CAS freshman Arielle Espenilla, who is considering joining Phi Alpha Delta at BU, said she thinks the fraternity could connect her with a network of students who share her aspirations.
“It would be helpful to have a source of people to whom I can go for advice and perspectives on different aspects of being a pre-law student,” Espenilla wrote in an email.
Brian McHale, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said he thinks these offerings are valuable for students seeking experience in their fields.
“For … a professional fraternity, I would say [it should offer] something like career opportunities or networking,” McHale said.
Freeman wrote that one of Phi Alpha Delta’s assets is its strong network of members passionate about law and legal education.
“As the first law fraternity to open membership to [people] of all races, genders, creeds, and national origins, members are bound by commitment to P.A.D.’s core values of professionalism, integrity, courage, service, diversity, innovation, and compassion,” Freeman wrote.
