Page 37 - Pierce County Lawyer - September October 2025

Jackie Shepherd
Jackie Shepherd Jackie Shepherd
WANTS YOU!
WANTS YOU! WANTS YOU! is the new (since last November)
Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Shepherd
Director of the University of
Washington—Tacoma Legal Pathways
Program. She comes to Tacoma from
Alaska as one can tell from the décor
in her office. Most recently she worked
with the ACLU of Alaska on criminal
justice and prison issues.
The Legal Pathways Program was established in 20181 when
the Legislature granted funds for what it termed a “pipeline
Program” for UWT students looking at careers in law. As
former County Executive Bruce Dammeier noted recently:
Prior to the Pathways Program, UWT was sending about 2
students per year to law schools – now they send about 30!
The Pathways graduates are finding great success in law school.2
The Program began with assisting students in choosing law
schools, navigating the application and financial aid process.
It has since, as you’ll see below, expanded to encompass not
just law school, but legal careers more generally. There are law-
adjacent fields such as court administration, paralegal practice,
or working for organizations or government entities where legal
knowledge is beneficial, but a JD is not required.
Students take classes such as the “Introduction to the Legal
Field” (which Ms. Shepherd teaches) to acquaint them with
the variety of legal careers. Many UWT students are first
generation college students. They aren’t from communities or
families with lawyers or other professionals. They haven’t, as
Ms. Shepherd says, “heard legal talk.” They may not see all the
possible choices for them.
The Program is advised by a Community Board, whose
members include a number of former officers and trustees of
the TPCBA as well as some recently admitted attorneys. There
is also a faculty advisory board with members across a variety
of disciplines related to law and legal studies.
Ms. Shepherd takes over from Patricia Sully, the first director
who established the Program and navigated it through the
difficult times of the Pandemic. When the position came open,
Ms. Shepherd was drawn to it because of the fit with her own
By Professor John Weaver, ret.
background and experience and because the Program was in
Tacoma. She had been to Tacoma often and was attracted to it
as a place to live.
Jacqueline Shepherd is in some ways like the students she
teaches and advises. She was a non-traditional law student who
came to law school later in life. When she was looking for a
career change, she saw that “all the people with cool jobs had
law degrees.” She attended University of California—Irvine,
where she was active in Moot Court and Trial Advocacy. She
returned to Alaska where she had gone to high school and
clerked with both the Superior Court and the Court of Appeals
and worked in private practice as well as with the ACLU.
In addition to teaching her courses and counseling students,
Ms Shepherd gets the students into places where they can learn
more about law and legal professionals; the Program also places
interns with lawyers and legal organizations. These aren’t the
kind of interns you may be used to, they don’t have law school
training, but they can still be valuable to you and you to them.
As Melissa Evangelos, Director of Tacomaprobono told me:
We’re thrilled to work with the UWT Legal Pathways and to
host interns at Tacomaprobono. These students contribute
meaningfully to every part of our work—from the Volunteer
Legal Program and Housing Justice Project to our Native
American Legal Aid Program and administrative operations.
She went on to note that:
For many, this is their first opportunity to work directly with
attorneys and see what public interest law looks like in practice.
This is where you can come in. You can meet these students and
talk with them about law and law school. You may be able to
mentor some, perhaps even use them as interns. You can help
them make their decision about legal careers.
Jackie Shepherd will be reaching out to you, but you can reach
out first. Go to “Legal Pathways” at the UW Tacoma Website,
find Jacqueline Shepherd (jfshepherd@uw.edu) and contact her
to learn how you can become part of someone’s Legal Pathway.
1 When Seattle University acquired the University of Puget Sound Law School, there
was a movement to get UWT to begin a law school or have a branch of the UW-Se-
attle Law School. Neither panned nor penciled out. You knew I’d have a footnote
somewhere.
2 This is from a news release announcing the UWT’s affiliation with Seatle University’s
school of Law South Sound Hub. Expect more information on the Hub in future editions
of the Magazine.
John Weaver, Professor Emeritus, Seattle
University School of Law, began teaching at UPS
School of Law in 1972. He has been a lawyer for
more than 50 years-- beginning his practice during
the Nixon Administration. He is an honorary life-
time member of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar
Association. He is a resident of Tacoma and serves
as the Law School Liaison to the Tacoma-Pierce
County Bar Association.
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