Careers

Ex-Con Earns Law Degree, Hopes to Help Others Like Herself

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Things didn’t look good for Lynn Burke when she got out of prison 20 years ago, after serving two years on a felony fraud conviction.

Broke and the mother of four young children, she went home to find them living in squalor in a public housing project as her husband struggled with a drug addiction. Working to support the family, she got jobs by using her maiden name to hide her criminal background, recounts the Raleigh News & Observer.

Finally, in 2006, decades after she initially registered for classes at North Carolina State University, she graduated with a degree in social work. All four of her children are also college graduates and a son is a Raleigh police officer. Last month, Burke, who is now 47, earned her law degree from North Carolina Central University.

Once she passes the bar exam, she hopes get a job as a criminal defense lawyer, helping others, like herself, who have “screwed up royally,” says Burke, explaining “I want to be that benefit of the doubt that someone can change.”