Connections with RWU Law Sets Double Major Up for Success

Evan Melo ’23, a Legal Studies and Political Science double major, will attend George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.  

Benefits of RWU Law: “My Legal Studies major has prepared me well for my first year of law school. Being at Roger Williams, I got to connect with a lot of the Law School students and formed some friendships. I was able to bounce ideas off them and get advice on work I was doing.”  

Internship Experience: “I had a paid internship at a law firm in Bridgewater, Mass. I was a law clerk. I did a lot of legal writing for the lawyers, I helped prepare them for cases, and I sat in on hearings. It gave me the opportunity to see different types of law as well as make connections.” 

Eye-opening Research: “I wrote two theses, one for Legal Studies and one for Political Science. I focused on topics I was interested in and was able to tie law and social justice together. For Legal Studies, I wrote about ways that mass incarceration could be reworked and fixed. For Political Science, I researched how nationalization affects incarceration and the disproportionate incarceration of Black people in different states. It’s eye-opening what you learn when doing research.”  

Melo, of Taunton, Mass., has served as a peer mentor and played for the RWU Baseball Team.   

Every spring, as Commencement nears, RWU spotlights members of the graduating class. Suggestions are welcome. Email: stories@rwu.edu