It may be true that all law students grab for the brass ring, but some are clearly in a bigger hurry than others.

Stephen Kulp, ‘13, is among a handful of students who started at the law school just three summers after his high school senior prom. And now, at age 25, he’s working on 74 construction, products liability, sexual abuse and medical malpractice cases for Laffey, Bucci & Kent LLP, in Center City.

The Moorestown, N.J. native got his first exposure to legal practice while pursuing his bachelor’s degree at Drexel through the BS-JD program. As a political science major, Kulp’s course load as an undergrad included constitutional law classes with Professor Rose Corrigan.

“I just couldn’t get enough of it,” Kulp said.

While pursuing his bachelor’s degree, he completed an intensive co-op placement in Morgan Lewis’ Litigation Department, earning an offer for a paid job for the eight months before attending his first classes in Torts or Contracts.

Kulp had hoped to prepare for law school orientation with a much-needed weeklong vacation, but a major arbitration came up, and he scuttled his plans.

“I’d been working on it for months and months,” Kulp said. “I wanted to see the fruit of our labor.”

The intensity of Kulp’s undergraduate experience prepared him well for law school, where he joined the Trial Team and was a regional finalist in the American Association for Justice Trial Advocacy Competition and a semi-finalist in the Peter James Johnson National Civil Rights Trial Competition in 2012.

Completing a clinic stint with Philadelphia Legal Assistance and a co-op placement with the Philadelphia Law Department, Kulp gained yet more experience in legal practice.

“I knew how important it was to learn from practicing attorneys, from paralegals, from everyone in a law firm,” Kulp said. “I’ve had really good mentors.”

Kulp recalls the moment he took an interest in plaintiffs’ work: while observing his first deposition during his co-op placement with the city.

“I felt like I really needed to broaden my horizons,” Kulp said, adding that he asked Trial Team coach Brian Kent if he could work with his firm, Laffey, Bucci & Kent, on a voluntary basis to test his interest in plaintiff-side work.

“A lot of times you really get pigeonholed,” Kulp explains. “I loved what I was doing with city Law Department, but if felt like I was getting one-sided.”

One thing led to another. The volunteer gig gave way to a part-time job that lasted Kulp’s 3L year, and then came a permanent full-time offer.

“They called that my year-long interview,” the fast-moving Kulp laughs, savoring the irony.