Improving diversity through pipeline programs

(4 of 4)
The next step in the pipeline process involves helping promising high school students with college applications, scholarships, and summer internships, Arbetman said.

”You can’t make a major difference in diversity unless a significant number of minority students get into the pipeline,” he said. ”You can’t fix the problem without an effective pipeline program as part of the solution.”

Different avenues
The CBA and the Chicago Bar Foundation created what is today the Sun-Times Judge Marovitz Lawyers Lend-a-Hand to Youth Program about 15 years ago.

In 1994, Thomas Demetrio of Corboy & Demetrio created the Lend-A-Hand Award of Excellence, with a desire to impact the lives of Chicago’s underprivileged children by recognizing the efforts of exceptional tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago communities. The CBF, with the leadership of the CBA, initiated the program in 1995.

The program promotes one-on-one mentoring relationships that foster consistent, long-term bonds between the mentor and the young person, said executive director Karina Ayala-Bermejo.

The organization, through a $2 million award, now provides grants to one-on-one mentoring programs across the state, she said. It also recruits attorneys and judges to serve as mentors, and connects law firms with young people on various projects.

Many studies show that young people need to be reached in elementary school in order to make a difference and widen the pipeline, Ayala-Bermejo said. If programs wait until high school or college they may miss a large percentage of people who do not complete high school, she said.

”I think the vision, now that we are able to make substantial grants, is to reach beyond the traditional college and even law school student and expand that, and really reach into elementary schools and plant the seeds as early as possible,” she said. ”Our program is unique in that we focus our outreach on one-to-one mentoring … We support programs that start in kindergarten and go throughout college and law school.”

The Just the Beginning Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports students of color and other underrepresented groups by providing free educational and mentoring programs to increase diversity in the judiciary and legal profession. Its’ programs try to help students find a path toward a legal career.

The foundation has a summer legal institute in June for 40 high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The students watch court proceedings, hear about practice areas, do oral arguments, tackle college essays, prepare for the ACT test, and work on networking, said executive director Paula Lucas.

”I think in terms of the law, it gets them away from what the TV says law is like,” Lucas said. ”But it lets them know that it still is exciting and can be glamorous and it can be earthy. We also actually have them see people that look like them, are similar to them, and have stories and backgrounds similar to them. Everyone did not grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth.

”They might not eventually end up in the pipeline, but that’s okay, because the point is to bring them along and have them be part of this other world.”

Many firms initiate their own pipeline programs through local organizations.

Mark Bernstein, a partner and chair of the diversity committee at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg, said his firm gets involved with many community pipeline programs.

For example, it is involved in Alternatives, Inc.’s restorative justice program. The firm invites high school students, through the organization, into its offices for field trips, seminars, training, and discussions about law as a career.

Bernstein said the firm wants to give students exposure to this career choice, and demonstrate to its lawyers that it’s committed to improving diversity.

”People should feel comfortable here, whatever their background, because we are dedicated to trying to open up the profession,” he said. ”Will this have an impact? We hope so. But obviously we will not know for quite a while.”

Kirkland & Ellis participates in a number of pipeline programs, and the firm also regularly offers job shadowing and internships to teach students about legal careers.

Kevin Evanich, a partner at Kirkland, is chair of the Communities In Schools of Chicago, which repositions existing community resources into schools to help students successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.

”Eighty-five percent of the students in Chicago Public Schools live below the poverty line,” Evanich said. ”You can imagine the number of problems Chicago public school students bring to school. They are hungry. They have no place to live. They are unsafe. They may be abused.

”What Communities In Schools does is provide free services to the public schools to deal with all of those ancillary issues so teachers can focus on education.”

He said he’s learned that improving any issue involving young people takes time. Law firms must not only work to improve the number of minority lawyers, but must also provide the mentoring so that they stay in the profession, he said.

”My aspirations and, I think, the firm’s aspirations are that minority lawyers would be represented in our law firm and other large law firms in the same percentages as they are represented in the community,” Evanich said. ”They need to reach back as far as they can to make sure that talented kids of all types are given the opportunity to succeed at every level. They need to make a commitment to finding and recruiting the very best minority lawyers.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4