Why Johnna Evans Chose Capital Law

4/7/2015  - Johnna Evans, L’15, a 3L, is a passionate student. During her psychology undergraduate work at The Ohio State University she became familiar with autism and volunteered for Autism Speaks. After graduating in 2009, she followed that passion and worked with Nationwide Children’s Hospital as well as Autism Speaks, and her passion continued to grow.

Knowing that she wanted to stay and work in Columbus, Johnna felt that “networking and connections would be very important.” She chose Capital University Law School because she wanted to build her network in Columbus with her classmates. “Our location is just blocks from the Franklin County Courthouse and the State Capitol.” Johnna realized the value in being so close to the legal community in Columbus and Ohio.

“I could meet attorneys because their offices are so close. So many of our student organizations are able to bring in speakers because of our proximity to the practitioners.” For Johnna, the Student Bar Association President, networking and hands-on experience have been the keys to her success. “I’ve found the best way to learn is experiential.”

Johnna, like many other local prospective students, applied to all of the law schools in Ohio. “Bar passage was the first thing I looked at. After looking at the bar passage rate for the last five years, I saw that it was significantly higher than many of the other Ohio law schools, especially the private ones.”

Now that she is in her third year at Capital, Johnna knows it was the right choice. “I like the size of the classrooms and the attention from the professors. They’re very knowledgeable in their areas of specialty. I’ve been able to learn a lot of different aspects of the law.”

“I had a great Legal Research and Writing Professor in Janet Blocher. You had to jump right in and write coherently. The required classes were very helpful in getting a job after my first year.” In her first summer, Johnna was able to “go to a firm with a good understanding of the general concepts of law.”

Three years later, and Johnna still intends on practicing in Columbus with her classmates after graduation. She remains passionate about autism and the special needs community, and hopes to use her law degree to increase awareness and improvement of institutional regulations and protocols. 

For additional "My Decision" articles, see Why I Chose Capital.