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Law & Justice student creates community through leadership

Law and Justice junior Maggie Haggerty found her place at Auburn through her involvement in student organizations such as Mock Trial. Now she’s creating community for students like her by leading the Women in Law organization.

Haggerty first chose Auburn because of its top engineering program. Entering college as a mechanical engineering major, she knew Auburn would be academically rigorous but allowed for flexibility if she decided to switch.

As a former debate team participant throughout middle and high school, Haggerty searched for a club with a similarly competitive environment. She found Mock Trial.

“Mock Trial opened my eyes to understanding that I actually really enjoyed the legal side of problem solving,” Haggerty said. “Mock Trial helped me realize that in law, you still get detailed breakdowns, but you have more time to solve them. The problems almost never ended, where in engineering, they did.”

Through a unique transition, Haggerty switched her major to Law and Justice and found mentorship in her professors.

“The constant mentorship I received from Dr. Jacqueline Smoke and Dr. Debra Armstrong-Wright transformed my time at Auburn,” Haggerty said. “They have always been willing to assist me with anything I needed and will bend over backwards to help you. Having Dr. Smoke and Dr. Armstrong-Wright in my corner helped me feel a lot more prepared to go into law school than I would have.”

Haggerty’s roommate, Morgan Gafford, had also recently switched to Law and Justice. To connect with their new peers and support other students, they created the Women in Law student organization

With events ranging from study dates to banquets to outlining workshops with Dr. Jacqueline Smoke, Women in Law gives likeminded women a place to grow personally, professionally and academically.

“We wanted to create a place where women could come, connect and support one other,” Haggerty said. “We want to foster the creation of connections for when women go out into the field, helping them get ready for law school and their future careers.”   

Mock Trial also led Haggerty to research. She applied for her position at the Academic Integrity office to participate in research on AI within education and assist in the rollout of the new integrity code that came out this semester.

After graduation, Haggerty plans on attending law school. She hopes to practice intellectual property law.

“Consistently working with research on AI has shown me that I have a really big interest in intellectual property law,” Haggerty said. “Intellectual property and AI are constantly competing with one other, so it would be amazing to discover how they intersect.”

Learn more about Women in Law.

Tags: Political Science Students