When Nick Zausch decided to go to law school, he set out on a journey to find the school that was right for him, touring seven schools in four states including Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, and Washington, DC.
“I wanted an outstanding legal education, but I also wanted to find a school where I would feel at home—where it would be easy for me to make friends,” said Nicholas Zausch, now a second year law student at Loyola. “Of all the schools I toured, Loyola was the only one that accomplished both. The school is ranked #1 in the country in my area of interest, and when I visited campus, everyone was friendly and genuinely interested in me.”
A Wisconsin native who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and attended a Jesuit high school in Milwaukee, Zausch says he was drawn to Loyola, in part, because of its strong Jesuit heritage.
“Loyola had the same supportive and collaborative atmosphere I had experienced in high school. When I was finished with my tour, I knew this is where I wanted to be,” he said.
Advocating for children
Prior to attending law school, Zausch worked at City Year Milwaukee, a non-profit Americorps organization that provides tutoring and mentoring services in underserved schools across the United States to help close the achievement gap of at-risk youth. “As a passionate advocate for children, I knew I could do more to help children who face some of life’s greatest challenges,” he said. “Whether it’s working with kids to get them back on the right track after they’ve made a mistake, helping them to escape an abusive home, or offering legal assistance to parents in need—I found my calling to become a lawyer.”
Zausch applied for and was selected to receive a prestigious ChildLaw Fellowship offered by Loyola’s internationally recognized Civitas ChildLaw Center. Over three years in law school he will receive scholarship assistance in exchange for completion of program requirements and a commitment to working in the field of child and family law for at least two years after graduation.
Honing skills outside of the classroom
In addition to his coursework, Zausch is involved in a number of extracurricular activities that have helped him develop his talents, interest, and skills. He is a member of Loyola’s Family Law Moot Court Team, serves as a junior editor of the student-run Children’s Legal Rights Journal, and as president of the school’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Society. He is also the director of outreach for Stand Up for Each Other, a law student-led initiative to address school suspensions of pre-K through high school students in the Chicago area. When he is not at Loyola, he works part time at the Chicago family law firm Berger Schatz.
“I am grateful to have found an outstanding law school that meets my personal needs as well as my professional goals,” said Zausch. “I’ve met incredible people at Loyola who I know will remain lifelong friends. I don’t have a ton of time to hang out after school, but when I do, my 1L classmates are the first people I call.”