Notes From the President & CEO
STRENGHTNEING THE PIPELINE LIES AT THE HEART OF THE LEGAL DIVERSITY EFFORT
ACCORDING TO RECENT REPORTS FROM THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, the legal profession has the unfor- tunate distinction of being the least diverse of all white collar professions. Even the rank of CEO, with a minority percentage at 11.7 percent, is more diverse than the legal profession at 11.6 percent. Tepid recruitment efforts and problems of attrition, due mainly to the lack of inclusiveness, contribute to these poor numbers and have fueled several of MCCA’s efforts including the new Academy for Leadership and Inclusion series that MCCA launched in ten cities last year and will serve six cities in 2013. However, before recruitment or retention come into
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the equation, there is the question of the legal pipeline. How do we connect with potential law students to make sure they know that careers in the law are an option for them? How do we provide resources to make the very cost-prohibitive journey survivable? And how do we give them the intensive training and preparation necessary to enhance their chances of success? Programs such as MCCA’s Lloyd M. Johnson Jr.
Scholarship Program, which has awarded nearly $2.3 million in support for deserving law students, address the first two issues, but one of the most effective pipeline programs aimed specifically at the latter is the Ronald H. Brown Summer Law School Prep Program at St. John’s School of Law. Tis program focuses its efforts on preparing first
generation, underrepresented and/or low-income college students for careers in the law. Students are admitted via a competitive application process. Te nine-week sopho- more program includes three weeks of intense study with
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law school professors, followed by a two-week judicial internship, and concludes with a four-week internship with a government agency or top tier law firm. Te main focus of the second year is an intense 15-week
LSAT prep course and one-on-one mentoring. Te program also contains an often overlooked component: All students receive psychological and motivational counseling to help them conquer fears and gain confidence. Te results of this program are impressive. Program
participants have increased their LSAT scores by an average of 10 points and over 80 percent of grads have been accepted to at least one law school, including some of the top schools in the country. Te program is targeted, focused, and effective. If the pipeline problem is to be properly addressed, pro-
grams such as the Ronald H. Brown Summer Law School Prep Program will go a long way toward the solution.
JOSEPH K. WEST President & CEO
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