James Chilimigras, 18, graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans’ law school
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.
