General
General Resources
Law School Admissions Council: Various legal organizations can provide helpful insights on pursuing a legal career. The Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) website provides a list of organizations that can be used for research. To see the list, go to the Helpful Links page on the LSAC website.
Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Legal Career Center: The Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Legal Career Center is an online site dedicated to helping students explore careers in the legal field. This site provides information about various careers, educational requirements, and levels of compensation. To explore the site, go to the Legal Career Center link on the Constitutional Rights Foundation website.
For People of Color, Inc.: For People of Color, Inc. (FPOC) provides free, high-quality law school admissions consulting services to thousands of prospective law school applicants. FPOC is widely recognized as a leader in its efforts to diversify the profession. For more information, see the For People of Color, Inc. website.
The Council on Legal Education Opportunity: The Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) was founded as a non-profit project of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education to expand opportunities for minority and low-income students to attend law school. CLEO is committed to diversifying the legal profession by expanding legal education opportunities to minority, low-income and disadvantaged groups. For more information, go to the CLEO website.
Internships
Internships
High School Students
Expanding Horizons Internships: Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Expanding Horizons Internships (EHI) is a rigorous program that places high school students as paid interns in professional environments. EHI offers students the chance to gain work experience by helping staff at corporate, nonprofit, and government job sites. Students also attend interactive seminars designed to help them prepare for college, career, and civic life. For more information, see the Expanding Horizons Intenship link on Constitutional Rights Foundation's website. Please contact Constitutional Rights Foundation if you are a firm interested in sponsoring students.
Superior Court Angels: Court Angels is a project initiated by the Los Angeles Superior Court which extends the opportunity for Court Volunteer Service to local area high school students, youth and other individuals in need of a quality work experience. The program aims to provide each participant with an understanding of Court and related career opportunities. The focus of this program is to attract local high school students who may be considered at-risk youth with high potential. For more information, see the Court Angels link on the Los Angeles Superior Court website.
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce: The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce offers an internship program to local area high school students. Students go through job skills and work readiness workshops before being allowed to apply for and interview for internships. The workshops teach students how to write a resume, cover letter, and reference page as well as how to dress for an interview, the right questions to ask during an interview, and how to follow up after an interview. Once students have successfully completed the workshops. they are entered into the Chamber database system and receive regular emails regarding internship and job opportunities. For more information, see the Hire LA Youth at Work link on the Chamber of Commerce website.
Undergraduates
Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Career Internships Program: Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) provides a summer internship and professional development program targeting talented Black, Hispanic, and Native American undergraduates and pre-law school candidates. Participants receive free career prep resources, training, and coaching in an effort to find a summer internship and, ultimately, to secure a full-time job offer in the law. For more information, go to the Internships link on the SEO website.
Undergrad Pre-Law Counseling
Undergraduate Pre-Law Counseling Programs
The Council On Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Scholars Program
The CLEO College Scholars Program’s purpose is to identify, motivate and prepare students for a career in the legal profession. The College Scholars program aims to help low-income, minority and otherwise disadvantaged students become competitive law school applicants. For more information, go to the College Scholars link on the CLEO website.
LatinoJustice LAWbound Program
LAWbound® is a program whose aim it is to increase the number of Latinos who successfully stay on the path to law school. With the support of the Office of Diversity Initiatives of the Law School Admission Council, LAWbound identifies Latino students early in their college career, provides targeted services that address some of the most common barriers to admission to law school, and helps students effectively navigate the law school admissions process. For more information, see the Lawbound link on the LatinoJustice website.
MTO Fellows
Each year, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP sponsors the MTO Fellows Program. The program involves 20-30 college students who are interested in applying to law school. MTO fellows participate in a one-year long intensive course of study including customized LSAT preparation course, monthly sessions on Law schools admissions and law school skills as well as mentoring by MTO attorneys.
University of California, Los Angeles Law School Law Fellows Program
The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law Academic Outreach Resource Center offers the Law Fellows Program, designed to encourage and prepare high-potential undergraduate and graduate students for careers in law, increase the diversity of the law school pool, and demystify the law school experience. The program format is made up of several components, and includes a series of Saturday Academies held at the Law School. In addition to the academic enrichment component, each Fellow is assigned a law student mentor. Each Fellow who successfully completes the program receives a scholarship for an LSAT preparation course. For additional information, go to the Academic Outreach Resource Center link on the UCLA Law School website.
University of California, Irvine Law School Pre-Law Outreach Program
The UC Irvine School of Law’s Pre-Law Outreach Program (“POP”) is sponsored by the Orange County Bar Association Charitable Fund. POP helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds understand the demands of law school, prepare for the law school application and admissions process, and be inspired to one day use their legal skills to give back to the community. For more information, see the UC Irvine School of Law Pre-Law Outreach Program information on the For People of Color, Inc. website.
B.A. to J.D.
Accelerated Bachelor of Arts to J.D. Programs
Traditionally, aspiring attorneys apply to law school after completing a four year undergraduate degree program. Secondary students considering legal careers can apply to two accelerated programs in the Southern California area that allow aspiring attorneys to complete their B.A. and J.D. degrees in six years instead of seven:
Southwestern School of Law
Southwestern School of Law and California State University, Northridge (CSUN) have established a joint, accelerated multiple-degree program through which students can earn both their Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees in six years. Those students admitted to Southwestern through this program will also receive $10,000 Wildman/Schumacher scholarships, which may be renewable in subsequent years depending on academic performance. For more information, go to the 3+3 B.A./J.D. Program link on the Southwestern website.
University of Southern California Gould School of Law
The USC Gould School of Law 3+3 Program is an accelerated Bachelor's to JD program approved by the American Bar Association. For more information, see UCS's 3+3 Accelerated Bachelor's to J.D. Program approved by the American Bar Association.
Scholarships
Scholarships
In an effort to help students from diverse backgrounds with the cost of their legal education, the following organizations, among others, award financial support in the form of scholarships, grants and fellowships to minority law school applicants.
For a word on falling prey to scholarship and financial aid scams, see the Consumer Information link on the Federal Trade Commission’s website.
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund grants 20 incoming diverse law students $15,000 of financial assistance over the course of their three years in law school. For more information, go to the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund link on the American Bar Association website.
California Bar Foundation
The California Bar Foundation's Diversity Scholarship financially supports first-year California law students with the goal of furthering diversity in the legal profession, specifically including students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Rising first-year law students are invited to apply by the beginning of the summer prior to commencing their first semester of law school. The Diversity Scholarship provides $7,500 in restricted funding intended to cover costs associated with attending law school, i.e. tuition, fees, books and related educational expenses. For more information, see the Diversity Scholarship link on the California Bar Foundation website.
Minority Corporate Counsel Association
The Minority Corporate Counsel Association established the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship program (“LMJ Scholarship”), which seeks to nurture the academic and professional careers of outstanding law students by advancing the diversity pipeline to the legal profession. The LMJ Scholarship is a national program that annually grants 15 scholarships of $10,000 to students entering their first year of law school. For more information, go to the LMJ Scholarship link on the Minority Corporate Counsel Association website.
Scholly, Inc.
Scholly is both a mobile and computer app that uses an adaptive matching engine to allow high school students and college students to find scholarships. It includes successful sample essays and notifications to remind students of upcoming application deadlines. See the Scholly, Inc. website for more information.
Additional Scholarships
For other links to scholarship opportunities, scroll down to “Scholarship Opportunities” in the Helpful Links section of the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) website.