Part-Time Program Alumni Profiles

Tammy White held just about every position available in a law office when she decided she wanted to go to law school. She began her career as a receptionist and billing clerk at a small general practice firm in Tacoma, then advanced to a position as a legal assistant at a two-attorney firm in Auburn. After a few years, she joined the City of Kent and ultimately assumed the role of a paralegal in the civil division of the City Attorney's Office.

After working in the field for so long, law school seemed like the next natural progression for her, and Seattle University School of Law's Part-Time Program made it possible. While still a student, she began working in the Criminal Division as a Rule 9 intern in order to gain courtroom and trial experience and she is now a prosecuting attorney in the criminal division.

She credits her ability to manage voluminous caseloads as a prosecutor in part to the part-time program at Seattle University School of Law. "As a night student, I was forced to focus and prioritize, and sometimes ad-lib, because I just did not have an unlimited amount of time to devote to my law school studies. This focus and prioritization, helped prepare me for life as a new prosecuting attorney."

Tammy also appreciated the professional diversity offered by the part-time program:

"The part-time program is filled with many students who are working professionals, starting a second career, or returning to school after raising children. This professional diversity offered an array of perspectives that led to lively classroom discussion. There is something to be said about real life experience. I think I learned as much from my fellow classmates as I did from my professors."