Earning a Law Degree to Help a Community

By Rachel Berry

Audio Excerpt:

To be “a voice.”

Alexus Johnson knew she had a purpose as she embarked on a path to a law degree, and while beating what many would consider to be insurmountable odds, it’s that purpose that continues to fuel her journey. She wants to be a voice for her community and those who, like her, have been a victim of a crime.

Growing up, Alexus didn’t have any role models to guide her in her legal education journey. Her passion and determination, as well as the support of the community she’s built along the way, led her from becoming a first-generation college student, to working as a paralegal who, at age 24, is preparing to enter law school to someday use the law to help those in need.

A look at where that journey started can offer an ample view of Alexus’ determination.

Her mother immigrated from the Philippines to the United States as a teenager, settling in Aberdeen, Maryland. There, she met Alexus’ father and soon became pregnant at only 15 years old. Although Alexus’ parents were young, with her father being only 17 at the time, they forged ahead and built a loving and supportive family. They “taught me a lot about hard work and drive and that nothing is going to be handed to you,” she said.

Alexus grew up living in a mobile home park alongside her parents, paternal grandparents, her paternal great grandfather, and her uncle on her father’s side. She was also constantly surrounded by her parents’ friends, who she considered her aunts and uncles.

“They were learning life at the same time that I was,” Alexus said of her young parents, saying her childhood was “definitely not conventional, but it provided experiences and life lessons that would assist me on this journey to law school and through life.”

Education was highly valued in her family, and both her parents finished high school despite having a child at a young age.

Living with her father’s parents helped the family survive financially. The family made ends meet as Alexus’ father earned an income working in the concrete industry while attending high school. Her mother began working as soon as she finished school, taking a job as a receptionist.

“My parents have always been hard workers and strived to be self-sufficient, especially as teen parents. Though money was tight, my parents always found a way to ensure that I had three meals a day, a roof over my head, and something to open on birthdays and holidays,” Alexus said.

Because there wasn’t much space in their mobile home, Alexus spent much of her childhood playing outside. She loved the outdoors and loved playing sports, gravitating to softball in particular, a game that both her mother and paternal grandmother played throughout high school. Compared to other sports that require expensive equipment, softball equipment was more easily attainable, with the ability to purchase second-hand bats and gloves.

The sport came naturally to Alexus and provided an escape from struggles and hardships in her life.

“Softball was always a constant in my life even when things were uncertain,” she said.

In middle school, Alexus begged her parents to let her play on a travel softball team. Once they agreed and she realized the financial toll this team placed on her family, she promised herself she would make that sacrifice worth it by earning a college softball scholarship.

Because softball was her path to college, she began to push herself even harder on the field while familiarizing herself with the college recruiting process, learning how to approach college coaches, writing letters and emails to coaching staff, and editing recruiting and skills videos for recruiting portals. Throughout this process, her softball coaches and family were supportive and helped her in whatever way they could.

Although neither of her parents attended college, it was always assumed that Alexus would receive a higher education. Her parents were open with her about their struggles that came from not having a university degree, and because of this, they wanted her to go to college. It was up to Alexus to find a way to achieve that goal.

“Getting a proper education was always talked about in our household and was almost like a non-negotiable ...” Alexus said. “I also knew I wanted to go to college because I wanted to make my parents and family proud as well. I wanted to break the cycle of bad luck or poor choices and start a new legacy within my family.” 

Alexus’ ultimate college decision was dependent on athletic and merit scholarships but also choosing a school that offered programs she was interested in. Keystone College in Pennsylvania was a perfect fit, allowing her to play softball and pursue her aspirations of a criminal justice-related career.

An Early Interest in the Law

Alexus’ paternal grandmother was her first inspiration to pursue this career path.

Working as a cook at a prison, she would come home and tell Alexus stories of the people she met there. Her grandmother emphasized that although the people incarcerated were separated from the rest of society because of crimes they committed, they always treated her respectfully.

In addition to hearing stories about her grandmother’s work, Alexus and her grandma also enjoyed watching police procedural shows together, like Criminal Minds, NCIS, and Law and Order.

It was the combination of these two things that first sparked an interest in the law. When she began college, Alexus thought she would pursue that interest by becoming a medical examiner because she had always been fascinated by the human body. She was able to sit in on a few autopsies, and that experience blew her away with “what the body could tell us about someone’s life and history and ultimately their demise, without them physically speaking to us to tell their story.” 

A terrifying campus incident, however, changed her career trajectory. A student she met in class began stalking her on campus. Although she reached out to the police for help, they didn’t do anything to protect her or punish her stalker, as their options were limited. This experience opened Alexus’ eyes to the perspective of crime victims, and she decided to pursue law to learn the proper procedures for situations similar to the one she experienced, as well as to work directly with the community and help people in situations like hers.

“Now that I’ve figured out a way to really cope with it and have dealt with it, I want to be a person that can advocate for someone in my position,” she said.

By the time she reached her senior year, she had almost finished the required credits for her criminal justice major but still had a year of eligibility for softball. Taking advantage of that year, she decided to pursue a paralegal certification from Delaware Law School: Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware. After she graduated in 2022, she found a job as a paralegal at a prosecutor’s office.

When she told her father and grandma about her paralegal job, they were the first people to say, “if you’re going to do that, why not take it further and go to law school.”

After beginning work at the prosecutor’s office, Alexus decided she would do just that and began studying for the LSAT.

Alexus wasn’t familiar with the law school admission process and wasn’t sure where to start. She began preparing for the LSAT by asking her colleagues for advice and doing her own research. She discovered LSAC’s website and found it helpful in determining how the process works.

“LSAC was truly my greatest resource, and I mean that genuinely,” Alexus said. “They were able to provide so much insight into the process of what you needed to do ... [On their website,] there was always a hyperlink, and there was always something there that explained it in layman’s terms.”

The first time Alexus took the LSAT, she didn’t score as well as she had hoped, but she learned from that experience, and it helped her adjust her study habits to improve her score. She found it helpful to set aside a specific time each day to study and began focusing on studying with Official LSAT PrepTests on LawHub, which is quickly becoming a popular destination for people to conveniently get resources that help them explore and prepare for a legal education.

Her advice for anyone unsure about law school is to take the LSAT. If the cost of the test may pose a barrier, Alexus encourages candidates to see if they qualify for an LSAC fee waiver. 

“If you’re on the fence about taking the LSAT, I would personally say just try it and see how you feel once you get those results,” Alexus said. “If you’re disappointed that you didn’t do as well as you had hoped, then I think that’s a good indicator that maybe you do care and that you’re serious about it.”

“The Ultimate Privilege”

In the fall, Alexus will attend Seton Hall Law School, where she is enrolled in their part time JD program. This will enable her to continue working at her current paralegal job to support herself while she earns her degree.

Her time working at the prosecutor’s office has helped Alexus decide that she wants to become a prosecutor once she finishes law school. The people she’s worked with, whether that be her colleagues, crime victims, or police officers, have helped contribute to this decision.

“I have had the privilege of hearing victims’ stories and how their experiences before the crimes and their experience with the criminal justice system and our office has affected them,” she said. 

“Being a prosecutor is the ultimate privilege,” Alexus added. “You get to help your community. You get to help as many people as possible, and that doesn’t stop at those who have been victimized. Prosecutors also have opportunity to positively impact those accused and even, at times, convicted, by providing resources and programs. That has always been my goal: to touch my community in a positive way.”

Outside the law, Alexus found a way to keep her love of sports alive by volunteering for the Play Forever Project , an organization dedicated to making sports accessible to low-income individuals, while also providing resources for mental health and food instability.

Alexus is also still close with her grandmother. They call monthly, and her grandma makes sure to keep her updated on what’s new on their favorite shows. When Alexus visits, they still watch together.

One day, Alexus hopes to come full circle and help not only the people like she sees on television, who first inspired her to pursue a criminal justice career, but also people like she has met in her job at the prosecutor’s office.

With a law degree, she hopes to be in a position where she can give back to her community.

“I’ve seen what it’s like to not have what you need ...,” she said. “That has always been my goal … to have the knowledge to help someone that can’t help themselves or to be a voice for the voiceless.”