Alumna in Focus: Karol Corbin Walker '86

(c)Karol Corbin Walker

Karol Corbin Walker ’86 credits Seton Hall Law School’s Legal Educational Opportunity (LEO) Program with launching her legal career and shaping her commitment to service and leadership. As the Law School marks its 75th anniversary, Walker reflects on women’s leadership, access to opportunity and the responsibility to “pay it forward” for future generations.

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For Karol Corbin Walker ’86, Seton Hall Law School represents more than a milestone in personal achievement. It represents access, responsibility and the obligation to lift others as the institution moves forward.

“What drew me to Seton Hall Law School was the LEO program,” Walker said. “Without it, I would not be a lawyer today. I’m indebted.”

Walker entered the law school through the LEO Program, an initiative that provides alternative pathways to legal education for students facing economic, educational or other barriers. When she participated, the program required an intensive summer curriculum designed to test readiness for law school.

“I am a product of the Jersey City public school system,” she said. “The LEO program wasn’t a set-aside for any one group. It was an opportunity that anyone could take advantage of if they were willing to do the work.”

That opportunity shaped Walker’s approach to her education from the outset. “My law school career started the day I walked into the law school,” she said. “I knew I would be staying in New Jersey, and the Seton Hall network is phenomenal.”

Walker immersed herself in student organizations, specialty bar groups and professional networks, understanding early that law school was not just academic preparation but the foundation of a lifelong professional community. “Look to your left, look to your right,” she often tells students. “This is your legal world.”

Today, Walker practices business, commercial and employment litigation, work she continues to find deeply fulfilling. “I love being a lawyer, and I enjoy coming to work,” she said. “I get great pleasure out of working with teams of people to address a client’s issue and develop the best strategy for that matter.”

She also emphasizes that success in the legal profession does not follow a single path. “There are people who love the courtroom, and there are people who never want to set foot in one,” Walker said. “The law gives you the flexibility to build a career that aligns with your strengths.”

Over the course of her career, Walker has consistently broken barriers. She served as the first Black president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and later became the first woman and first person of color to serve as New Jersey’s delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates.

Her message to women entering the profession is direct and unapologetic. “If there’s a room you want to go to, go to it,” Walker said. “If there’s a table you want to go to and there are no chairs, bring your own chair.”

She cautions women against allowing others to define their professional limits. “Women lawyers have the capacity to do whatever it is they want to do,” she said. “They should create their own path for themselves.”

Walker is equally candid about the realities women continue to face. “There is still a salary gap,” she said. “Women have to advocate for themselves. If you can’t advocate for yourself, who will?”

As Seton Hall Law School celebrates its 75th anniversary, Walker believes the moment calls for both reflection and renewed commitment. “Seventy-five years gives the law school an opportunity to look back and see how far it has come,” she said. “But it’s important not to stand on its laurels.”

She points to the LEO Program as central to the law school’s identity moving forward. “That program has to be part and parcel of who and what Seton Hall is today, tomorrow and forever,” Walker said.

A major supporter of the law school, Walker has endowed a scholarship and remains actively engaged with students. She sees giving back not as charity, but as a responsibility. “You don’t take the ladder with you,” she emphasized. “You keep pushing it down.”

Her message to the next generation is clear. “Don’t do anything for me,” Walker said. “What I want you to do is pay it forward. We have to continually help bring people along.”

As Seton Hall Law School enters its next chapter, Walker’s legacy reflects the institution’s highest ideals: access, excellence and the enduring power of education to change lives.