Over in the CNMI, the judiciary’s rigorous summer pre-law program is giving participants from all walks of life a taste of law school with the hopes of growing a locally-rooted legal community in the islands.

44-year-old Charlie Rivera has always dreamt he’d become a lawyer. The graphic designer and pre-law student said, "Right out of college, it has been my dream to be a lawyer. Back in the Philippines, I actually attended first-year law, but you know work caught up with my time and family obligations so I stopped until I became a full-time graphic designer for more than 20 years now."

Now, the CNMI Judiciary’s Summer Pre-Law program is providing him and his 20 peers the chance to revisit those dreams or find new passions in the legal profession. Charlie was 21 when he started that first-year law class, now he says there’s a possibility he’ll start his studies again.

"20 years [later] revisiting my dream. So I am still dreaming," he shared.

Since the pre-law program’s beginning in 1991, 35 participants have graduated from law school. This year, a diverse group of students is taking classes on legal research and writing and property law for 4 hours a day for over two weeks - months of legal studies condensed into two weeks. And the two professors guiding them along are from Saipan and are legal titans in America’s top universities.

Prof. Rose Cuison-Villazor, the Co-Dean of Rutgers Law School said, "It is a program that is designed to encourage people from the NMI to think about going to law school with the idea that they will return to the CNMI and contribute to the local bar, become judges, and become lawyers."

Prof. Eun Hee Han with Georgetown University Law Center said, "I really want to work with students on their analysis, their ability to read critically, their ability to put together communication effectively, and I think a lot of these skills are skills they can also take back to the jobs that they have, whatever work they do in the future, and to law school, if they do go to law school in the future."

And that future is now for some students applying for law school in the next year.

Mikiotti Evangelista said, "Seeing two homegrown people from Saipan making it out there…to come back and to spread that knowledge is invaluable."