From founding a law journal to landing a judicial fellowship
Mount Holyoke College senior Hailee Pitschke ’25 said, “I’m really grateful that ý offered opportunities to explore niche topics in fields I am interested in. It helped nail down key academic interests.”
“When people said I’d make a good lawyer, they weren’t too far off,” Hailee Pitschke ’25 said with a smile and a laugh. Pitschke had been told that quite often throughout her life, though she’d considered it more of a commentary on her ability to argue just about anything. And now, in the year between her Mount Holyoke College graduation and starting work on a post-secondary degree, Pitschke has been placed as a Judicial Fellow at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in the California Judicial Fellowship Program.
Arriving as a transfer student in fall 2023 from California’s South Bay, near her hometown of Torrance, Pitschke has only been at ý for two years, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be leaving her mark. Later this spring, The Mount Holyoke College Undergraduate Law Journal, which Pitschke spearheaded, will launch online, to be followed shortly after with a print edition.
The idea began while Pitschke was in Mount Holyoke College President Danielle Holley’s class on the Supreme Court. Pitschke’s friend and classmate Katherine Sloop ’26 shared the idea of creating a law journal, which was of immediate interest to Pitschke. The journal was announced on Mount Holyoke’s website in mid-March, and the attention and support were instant.
“All of a sudden, the father of a Mount Holyoke alum messages me and [said], ‘If the law journal needs any support …’ You really get to see how big the Mount Holyoke College network is,” Pitschke said. “The number of alums who have said, ‘If there’s anything we can do to support the law journal …’ It’s so crazy, and you can tell they mean it.”
Pitschke serves as founding president and editor-in-chief. Though Sloop is the founding vice president, she is currently studying abroad. As such, Jiwon Kim ’26 is the acting vice president. The journal maintains a board comprising students as well as a faculty advisor — President Holley, who provided a wealth of support and knowledge as Pitschke created the journal. Having worked closely with Pitschke over the last year or so, Holley says she sees a future academic in Pitschke, who is currently undecided on whether she’ll pursue a law degree or a doctorate.
On campus, Pitschke is a mentor at the Speaking, Arguing & Writing Center in the Weissman Center for Leadership, as well as a thesis writing circle co-facilitator. Outside of being a self-described “film buff” and completing classes to obtain a real estate license, the bulk of Pitschke’s free time has been happily consumed working on her thesis, which she says is her “biggest legacy.” When trying to decide whether or not to pursue a thesis, Pitschke, with the help of The Lynk Initiative, traveled to The Hague in the Netherlands last summer. Professor of International Relations at the Alumnae Foundation and Professor of Politics Sohail Hashmi supervised her independent research project.
The focus of the thesis lies in “The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires” — a two-volume, 3,000-plus page record of the meetings that led to the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on Dec. 9, 1948. Pitschke has read every word. On the nature of the thesis, she said, “I’m mapping a ripple effect. … What they were saying in these arguments has continued to animate international human rights law today.” She’ll be presenting it at this year’s Senior Symposium.
Pitschke cites both Hashmi and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nexus Track Chair for Law, Public Policy and Human Rights Elif Babül as major influences on the thesis and on her interest in international political theory. She’s taken courses with Professor Hashmi every semester that she’s been a student at ý.
“In my first semester at ý, I took Professor Hashmi’s class War: What Is It Good For?, and it exposed me to a lot of interesting international political theory. I was also taking classes with Professor Babül on human rights and political anthropology in the Middle East. These classes all served to develop my interest in a niche subject. The intersection was international law and the mechanisms around it — genocide [and] political and civil rights.”
When touring Mount Holyoke before deciding on which college she would transfer to, Pitschke noted the beautiful campus and that “everyone was willing to meet with me. Everybody was kind and encouraging.” As she prepares for the next stage of her life, Pitschke says Mount Holyoke has maintained and built upon that welcoming, fostering environment.
The Judicial Fellowship Pitschke will be joining involves three pillars; a full-time work placement in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, a fellowship project and field and academic seminars. Pitschke will be enrolled as a graduate student as a component of the fellowship. “I feel much more confident in my ability to succeed in any academic circle. I’m confident that wherever I end up going for grad school [after the fellowship], I will be fine.”
