Vartan Gezukarayan, a co-founder of the Armenian Pre-Law Student Association and a third-year philosophy student, said the organization is meant to help students learn about the law school admissions process by organizing events and connecting with lawyers and law students.
Though the club started as a platform to provide help to Armenian pre-law students, the group is open to all students and aims to help members with the application process.
The club will not focus on any specific type of law, so students interested in any field can join, Gezukarayan said.
The three founders of the Armenian Pre-Law Student Association are all transfer students who started at UCLA in the spring. They started organizing the group in October and are currently planning activities for winter quarter, Gezukarayan said.
He added that he hopes the student group will also help transfer students interested in law make a smooth transition into UCLA.
“Transfer students can meet other students sharing the same interests in the Armenian Pre-Law Student Association,” Gezukarayan said. “We want to run it successfully. We see it as our way of contributing to the UCLA community.”
Gezukarayan said he plans to invite law school students to come and speak about law school admissions in winter quarter. He added that he hopes to use his connections with UCLA alumni in law firms and current Harvard Law School students to help UCLA students.
“I want to give students an opportunity to get on the right track and successfully get into law school,” Gezukarayan said.
Lala Demirchyan, a co-founder of the group and a third-year philosophy student, said she wants to make use of her previous internship experience in law firms to help educate other members on the duties of lawyers.
She said she has been working in law-related internships since she was 16, and she wants to share her experiences with other group members.
Elizabeth Pashanian, a co-founder of the Armenian Pre-Law Student Association and a third-year philosophy student, said she wants to meet and talk to new people to find out why they want to study law.
“This will be a better experience for me at UCLA, to help friends to improve on their (Law School Admission Test) scores and give advice on how to do better,” Pashanian said.
Students interested in joining the Armenian Pre-Law Student Association can follow its Instagram account aplsa_ucla, where its next meeting time and venue will be posted.