The Western Illinois University Centennial Honors College will host its 21st annual Pre-Law Symposium from 4-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, in the University Union Brattain Lounge.

The event is free and open to the WIU community. Students interested in the study of law are encouraged to attend.

A table fair, with law school representatives, will be held from 4-6 p.m., followed by a keynote address by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White at 6 p.m., and a panel of law students and legal professionals will be moderated by WIU Student Legal Advocate Victoria R. Smith, J.D. at 6:20 p.m.

Justice White, a native of Decatur, earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1993. She began her legal career as an Assistant State's Attorney and Public Defender in Macon County before joining the Decatur firm Brinkoetter & White. In 2001, she became the first Black Judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, and in 2008 was appointed Circuit Judge, later elected in 2010. Justice White made history again in 2013 as the first Black member of the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, and in 2022, as the first Black woman on the Illinois Supreme Court. She is an active member of several bar associations and serves on numerous leadership councils, including the University of Illinois College of Law Leadership Project. Justice White and her husband, James, are proud parents of Brett and Myah.

Law schools scheduled to attend the table fair include the Chicago-Kent College of Law; Indiana University Maurer School of Law; Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law; Northern Illinois University College of Law; Saint Louis University School of Law; Southern Illinois University School of Law-Carbondale; University of Illinois Chicago School of Law; University of Illinois College of Law-Urbana; University of Missouri School of Law; and University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law.

For questions about the Pre-Law Symposium, call the Centennial Honors College at (309) 298-2228.