The biggest challenge for any college student is finding the perfect internship. While this is not an easy task for any major, it can be more difficult depending on the field you are aspiring to work in. An especially difficult situation can be finding an internship within the field of law. As a student on Fordham University’s pre-law track, Abigail D’Angelo, FCRH ’26, knows this challenge well.
D’Angelo lives fairly close to Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus and chose the university due to its proximity to her home and Manhattan, a place where she wanted to work after graduation. D’Angelo started at Fordham as a psychology major, with the aspiration of working in school psychology. D’Angelo cited her high school curriculum as inspiration for that path: “I had taken psychology classes in high school, and appreciated the ability to better understand the decisions those made around me in an informed and measured way.” After taking an introductory philosophy class, once she began her studies at Fordham, she decided to major in philosophy as well.
When noting her majors, D’Angelo shared that two of the reading comprehension topics on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) are psychology and philosophy, so the majors will help her perform well. Beyond the test, these two fields can also be supportive of a career in law. “In the context of a broader career in law, I feel that the biggest strength these majors will give me is a deep understanding of the human psyche and its motivations. A large part of being a lawyer depends on your reputation and interpersonal skills, two things that these majors will help me foster and protect,” she said.
D’Angelo declared herself on the pre-law track after fellow members of the Fordham Undergraduate Law Review mentioned it to her. While noting that the program could be expanded, she cites an overall positive experience: “The pre-law symposium does a great job of accurately describing what different paths to being a lawyer could look like. I believe they do a good job of delineating between the law you see on tv and the law you would actually be practicing.”
As a junior, D’Angelo knows all about looking for internships within the field of law, describing her experience as “mildly annoying at best and absolutely grueling at worst.” She pointed to the lack of legal internship availability, specifically those accepting undergraduate students, as the root of this issue. D’Angelo first interned at Evan Guthrie Law Firm, beginning as a first semester sophomore. When asked how she got such an exclusive internship so early, D’Angelo noted her persistence as being key. “In my experience, an application is not enough. You really need to make yourself stand out, and honestly be a little annoying on LinkedIn to the people that work there until you get that interview,” she said. D’Angelo also noted that the application difficulty in law is not limited to internships: “Of the three law internships I will have completed by the end of this coming summer, none of them were easy or non-competitive to get, but this is indicative of the field of work you will be entering.”
Currently, D’Angelo works licensing artwork in the legal department of Alterea, Inc. and cites her work as very fulfilling. “Although not a creative myself, I love being able to protect the work of the creatives I work with and ensure no one else could ever take credit for their work,” she said. When considering her future within law, D’Angelo notes the possibility of an expansion on art law into musical and written works, or even a focus on a childhood love of animals with environmental law.
