Pre-Law Advising
Students interested in attending law school after completion of their undergraduate degree at Butler are encouraged to find a major of greatest interest to them. Law schools recruit from every discipline, so students are not confined to a specific course of study. The Butler core curriculum will provide students with significant exposure to written and oral communication skills and the ability to think critically. Additionally, a number of upper-level courses dealing with law-related subject matter are available. A complete listing of these courses can be found on this site. The Pre-Law Advisor works with individual students to assist them with the law school admission process.
Butler University and the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law have created the “Butler University Law Scholar,” a partnership that allows Butler to nominate one student each year to enroll in the law school and receive a minimum half-tuition scholarship.
Pre-Law Advisor
Mike Lewinski is a lecturer in the Lacy School of Business. Mike graduated from Wabash College in 1982 where he received his AB, summa cum laude, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. While at Wabash College he was a member of Beta Theta Phi Fraternity in which he held a number of offices. He graduated from Indiana University Mauer School of Law in 1985, where he received his JD, cum laude. While at IU Bloomington Law School, Mike served on the Indiana University Law Journal and was president of the Delta Theta Phi Legal Fraternity. He began his legal career with Ice Miller LLP in May 1985 where he practiced for 32 1/2 years before taking early retirement to accept a full-time lecture position at Butler University. Mike is also Butler University’s Pre-Law Advisor. In addition to his work at Butler, Mike practices law at Lewis Wagner, LLP, where his practice is primarily in dispute resolution involving real estate issues.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at Butler University. I am a socio-legal scholar exploring how legal, political, and social actors influence global and local institutions and organizations, producing social change or reproducing structural inequalities. Globally, I study how lawyers shape trade regimes between countries, which has contributed to today’s climate crisis. Locally, I analyze the mobilization against and governance of climate change in Brazil’s Amazon, where I was born and raised. My work has appeared in World Development, Sociology of Development, Law & Social Inquiry, University of Illinois Law Review, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and Cambridge University Press.
After moving from Brazil to the U.S., I earned my LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University Bloomington. In 2022-2023, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. At IU-Bloomington, I remain affiliated with the Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes and the Maurer School of Law’s Stewart Center on the Global Legal Profession. I am currently co-editing a special issue of the Law & Society Review on Law in a Changing Climate.
You can find more information about Vitor at vitormartinsdias.github.io.
Pre-Law Listserv
If you would like to be added to our pre-law listserv, send an email to pre-law advisor, Michael Lewinski.
In your message, please include the following information:
- Your name
- Your academic status (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior)
- Your Butler email address
Once you have been added to the listserv, you will receive messages regarding upcoming pre-law events, practice exams, and other information that is of interest to those interested in applying to law school.