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A Mississippi teenager recently became one of the youngest people ever to graduate from law school after gaining admission in 2023 at age 15.
James “Jimmy” Chilimigras, 18, graduated on Sunday with highest honors from Loyola University New Orleans’ law school, a little more than three years after he earned national news headlines with an entrance exam score that was the highest in a region encompassing his home state, Alabama to the east, and Louisiana to the west.
In a statement released by Loyola and attributed to him, Chilimigras said he “had no idea what to expect” starting law school at an age where many US teens are preparing for either their first or second year in high school. But he said faculty and fellow students went out of their way to “welcome and embrace” him as he successfully pursued his juris doctorate, the kind of degree required to practice as an attorney in the US.
Jimmy’s parents, John and Erin Chilimigras, have previously spoken publicly about how they realized early that their son – the oldest of seven siblings – was highly intelligent. He was just two years old when he started speaking in full sentences, and he received a high school diploma from St John Paul the Great in his home town of Bay St Louis, Mississippi, at the unusually early age of 12.
By 15, he had attained both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting from the online, non-profit Western Governors University. He subsequently became what is widely believed to be the world’s youngest certified public accountant, aced the law school admission test (LSAT) by scoring a 174 out of 180, and enrolled at Loyola in time for the fall 2023 semester, the Louisiana university said.
Chilimigras made a name for himself at Loyola by ranking in the top 2% of his class while earning the highest grade in more than 40% of his course, according to the school. He represented clients in immigration-related matters at Loyola’s Stuart H Smith law clinic.
And, among other accomplishments, as part of his degree he merited certificates of concentration in five areas: taxation, social justice and immigration and citizenship law; international legal studies; and technology and entrepreneurship. That is “a distinction believed to be unmatched at Loyola”, whose law school was founded in 1914.
Loyola projected Chilimigras to be the youngest law school graduate ever in Louisiana, which joined the US in 1812. Furthermore, a list compiled by the history and culture website oldest.org suggests he could be among the four youngest people globally to obtain a law degree.
The person in third place on that list – Jozef Erece of the Philippines – was 18 when he secured his law degree in 2015.
The person in second, Gabrielle Turnquest of Florida, was 17 when she got her law degree, according to the site. Then, in 2013, Turnquest at age 18 became the youngest barrister in the UK in six centuries.
The site says the world’s youngest known person to get a law degree is Stephen Baccus of Florida, who received his juris doctorate at age 16 in 1986.
Erece, like Turnquest, became a practicing attorney. Baccus became a neurobiology professor.
For his part, on Monday, Chilimigras was vacationing on a cruise ship, a Loyola spokesperson said. He then intends to pursue a master of laws (LLM) degree in taxation from Northwestern University’s Pritzker law school in Chicago.
Loyola noted that would be the first time Chilimigras moved so far away from Bay St Louis, which is less than 60 miles (96.6km) north-east of New Orleans.
If all went to plan, Chilimigras would complete that LLM before age 20.
