King Hall Launches 'Pathway to Law School' Partnership with California Community Colleges
UC Davis School of Law will support improved access and increased diversity in legal education through the Community Colleges Pathway to Law School program, a new partnership created by the State Bar of California Council on Access and Fairness. The program pairs 24 California community colleges with six universities and their law schools in order to provide counseling, support, access to information regarding the law school admission process, and targeted outreach to community college students.
"We'll do our very best to work with students to make sure they get the information they need to come to law school," Dean Kevin R. Johnson said in an article on the program published in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Students in the program take a series of community college courses, and upon successful completion, they receive admission to participating undergraduate institutions. Students are not guaranteed admission to law school, but the participating law schools are committed to a holistic review of participant applications and to providing support in the form of waived application fees, outreach activities at community colleges, information, and counseling.
The initiative comes as part of a collective effort to advance diversity in legal education and the legal profession. Only about 20 percent of attorneys in California are nonwhite, yet nonwhites represent nearly two-thirds of community college students in the state. By providing a pathway for community college students, the goal is to make it easier for socioeconomically disadvantaged students to enroll in law school, Dean Johnson said.
"In addition to furthering our commitment to diversity, the program also provides opportunities to build relationships with promising prospective students earlier in their academic careers," said Kristen Mercado, King Hall's Assistant Dean of Admission and Financial Aid.
The Pathway to Law School initiative was launched with a two-day conference at Chabot College in Hayward that featured a keynote address from King Hall Professor Cruz Reynoso, whose higher education began at a community college in Fullerton. In addition to UC Davis School of Law, program participants include UC Irvine School of Law, University of San Francisco School of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law, Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.