Mississippi Teen Becomes One of Youngest Law School Grad Ever at Just 18 y.o

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At just 18 years old, James “Jimmy” Chilimigras graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law with his juris doctor degree, a milestone that makes him one of the youngest people ever to graduate law school.

“Starting at Loyola, I had no idea what to expect,” Chilimigras said in a release from Loyola shared with Southern Living. “Faculty and fellow students go out of their way here to welcome and embrace everyone. This atmosphere builds character so the intense academia doesn’t overwhelm you or cause burnout. The classes are difficult but fair. The culture is welcoming but rigorous. It’s like a tough-love friend who’s uncompromising about you becoming the best version of yourself.”

The Bay St. Louis, Mississippi native has followed an academic path unlike almost anyone his age. The oldest of seven children, Chilimigras finished high school at 12 years old before earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting by age 15. According to a release from Loyola, Chilimigras is also widely considered the world’s youngest Certified Public Accountant.

But his accomplishments didn’t stop when he got to law school. Chilimigras finished in the top two percent of his class, earned the highest grade in more than 40 percent of his courses, and during his third year, he was sworn in to practice law in Louisiana as a Rule XX Student Practitioner through Loyola’s Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic, where he represented clients in immigration matters.

https://www.southernliving.com/southern-teen-graduates-law-school-at-18-11972439

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He seems like the type of kid that needs to be constantly intellectually challenged, which I respect, but who is going to hire an 18 year old lawyer or accountant. While it makes great TV, I’m not sure if it’s the advantage it’s made out to be.

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He might have to intern for cheap or free for a year or two, but that still leaves him much better off than he would otherwise be.

Edit: he’s apparently going to get his LLM in tax law from Northwestern: Mississippi teen Jimmy Chilimigras becomes youngest law degree graduate in Louisiana state history

Personally, I’m curious how he got a master’s in accounting 2 years after graduating high school.

Edit: it was through Western Governors University, which is self-paced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKByu8dL3g but I don’t know where he got his 1-2 years of supervised accounting experience from, or how he first decided to become a tax lawyer, or how he got a full ride to law school with a 3.0 GPA (WGU is pass/fail)

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One of the linked pages mentions a 174 LSAT score.

Loyola New Orleans law school does not seem to be that selective, according to https://loyola-neworleans.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/2223 , and it looks like substantially all entering students get some kind of scholarship (https://law.loyno.edu/about/consumer-information-aba-required-disclosures says 158-168 new students got scholarships in each of recent years, and https://loyola-neworleans.lawschoolnumbers.com/ says that 153 matriculated for this year’s entering class).

Also, he may have had no college GPA for law school admission purposes, since pass/fail grading is not converted, and cumulative GPA for law school admission is not calculated when there are fewer than 60 credits of graded courses, according to Transcript Summarization | The Law School Admission Council

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Is this the same for medical school?

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In pass/fail grading with one passing grade, the passing grade converts to an AMCAS P, which does not affect AMCAS GPA. So no AMCAS GPA if all college courses are passing grades in pass/fail grading.

https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7786/download?attachment

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