News

WVU College of Law alumni Ben Vanston and Jacob Trombley became friends through an unlikely matchmaker: the West Virginia bar exam. They met through a new College of Law initiative that pairs recent graduates with newer alumni to mentor them and provide support as the bar exam approaches. About 40 WVU Law graduates participated in the pilot Peer Bar Exam Consultant project.

Vanston, who graduated in 2021 and now works for a Charleston law firm, was paired with Trombley, a 2023 graduate now working in Kingwood. Beginning in May, they talked weekly —sometimes for up to two hours — about the rigor of the test and the effort needed to pass the July exam.

About halfway through the summer study marathon, Vanston said he realized that Trombley was scoring well on practice tests and was likely to pass, so he shifted his attention to helping ease the stress and mental exhaustion of preparing for a three-day exam.

PreLaw Magazine has named WVU Law among the 2023 Best Schools for Public Service: Public Interest. Lawyers who practice public interest law help those who cannot afford legal services and the underrepresented, including the poor, the elderly, children and victims of domestic violence.

The College of Law, in conjunction with the nonprofit West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest, has a long history of commitment to public interest law.

Since 1987, these two entities have built a program that provides approximately 20 summer fellowships along with one-year postgraduate placements with a public interest entity in West Virginia. These experiences have created a generation of attorneys ready to serve the greatest needs of our state.