Adams Center for Law & Society

Student Opportunities

We’ll help you get hands-on, resume-building experience through:

• Internships and externships.
• Visiting courts and law schools.
• Attending national and regional conferences and professional seminars.
• Independent study research projects in social and criminal justice.
• Enhanced library resources relating to law and society.
• Networking relationships with law schools, medical centers, businesses, courts and social service agencies.

More than a dozen paid student internships are available each year to our Adams Center Scholars. They’ve worked with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), as well as area judges, district attorneys and probation offices. 

Graduates who have had experiences through the Adams Center are now in law school, graduate school, working on Capitol Hill and one even won a Fulbright award.

Namesake

The Arlin M. Adams Center for Law & Society was established in tribute to Judge Arlin M. Adams H’85, a prominent jurist devoted to public service and a steadfast friend of Susquehanna University, ensuring his impactful legacy continues.

About Arlin M. Adams

Arlin M. Adams was a U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His distinguished career included 17 years on the bench and decades of involvement in professional, charitable and educational organizations.

Adams began his career in private legal practice and, concurrently, joined the faculty at The University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his appointment as a federal judge, he served a term as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. After he retired as a federal judge, he served as counsel at one of Philadelphia’s largest law firms, Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, for 25 years. He was also a past president of the American Judicature Society and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.

A Philadelphia native, Adams earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Temple University and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of Penn Law Review. Determined to serve his country, Adams enlisted as a U.S. Navy logistics officer during World War II.

A long-time friend of Susquehanna University, Adams was a visiting Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Susquehanna in 1981 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the university in 1985.