Jacob Burnett L’22

Jacob hails from Mishawaka, Indiana. He is a first-generation college student whose family lives in a Habitat for Humanity home. Jacob attended Wabash College on a Lily Scholarship and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in political science and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. After Wabash, Jacob attended the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship where he received a M.Sc. in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a M.Sc. in Global Governance and Diplomacy.

Jacob returned and served his community as a project manager for the City of South Bend after his time at Oxford. In that capacity, he developed and implemented digital inclusion initiatives and managed the City’s Group Violence Intervention strategy to serve those who were most likely to be victims of gun violence.

At Penn Law, Jacob is a 1L Representative for the Criminal Expungement Clinic and volunteers at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. He also earned Best Defense Attorney at the 9th Annual Penn Law Mock Trial Tournament. Jacob wants to work in death penalty abolition, public defense, and voting rights litigation. Drawing from his experience growing up in poverty, surviving childhood sexual abuse, and having family members who were incarcerated, Jacob hopes to serve communities through relentless empathy.