Local attorneys will sit down with NMU students tonight and share their experiences of law school, what they’ve had to encounter post-graduation and offer input of what students should expect in the field.

In a laid-back conversational atmosphere, students will be able to ask the attorneys questions about law school and stay in contact with the attorneys following the meet and greet. Hosted by the Student Law Forum (SLF), the event will be held in the Cadillac Room at the University Center at 6 p.m. tonight, 15 and is open to all students seeking law school or who have interests in the field.

As a student group, the SLF works in preparing students for law school. This event offers students professional advice and a chance to interact and make connections with local attorneys while still in college, said senior and political science major Steve Wood.

Wood, who serves as the SLF president, said he assembled this event in order to bring real-life resources to students that sometimes a classroom can’t always offer. And though Wood has been accepted to a couple of different law schools, he said he’s eager to hear what the attorneys have to say so he can gain “a clearer picture” of what his future might look like.

“They’re currently in the field. They have the best perspective of what it’s like to practice law,” Wood said. “Even if you’re not planning on law school, it still will be valuable.”

There will be 5 to 7 local attorneys sharing their knowledge with students. One of the attorneys, Jake Spear, said he’ll be able to give students a “relative” perspective because he recently graduated from law school in 2015 and can relate to what these students are going through.

“It’s a huge decision if they are going to go to law school, and it’s not cheap by any means so they should have access to as much information as possible in making that decision,” Spear said. “NMU and its students, to me, are an asset to Marquette and the surrounding communities, so I just want to give back some of my time and share my knowledge and experience with students.”

Events like this not only guide students in their decision making but also give attorneys the opportunity to branch out and learn something new from each student, Spear added.

“If I were a student, I would see this as something that’s extremely valuable,” he said. “I wish I had the opportunity to meet with attorneys prior to going to law school just so I could pick their brains about the expectations in law school, what it’s like after you graduate, taking the bar exam and that sort of thing.”

In the upcoming months, the SLF will be traveling to Minnesota to tour law schools and preparing for the next session of the “Suds, Buds, & Barristers” series, which is tentatively set for mid-March.