Law student Sandy Curtis can't help but get a little emotional when she talks about the opportunities she has received.
The 22-year-old Queens, N.Y., woman recently graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, making her the first in her family to finish college.
LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune
The CLEO summer institute has attracted dozens of prospective law students to San Diego, including Roslyn Griffin, 22, of the University of Mississippi.
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This fall, she'll begin law school at the State University of New York at Buffalo, consequently making her the first in her family to pursue a professional degree.
In the meantime, Curtis is soaking up the San Diego sunshine between summer classes at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law near Old Town.
She's one of nearly 50 students from around the country participating in a six-week program run by the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, or CLEO.
“It's just an amazing program,” Curtis said with a flutter of emotion in her voice. “It's not just a program, you can see the passion” in the instructors. “It really focuses on the skills that we'll need so that we can be ahead of the game,” she said.
The summer institute is administered by the Washington, D.C.-based council, whose main goal is to increase the number of minority and low-income students who graduate from law school and go on to professional careers.
A project of the American Bar Association, the program offers early exposure to the educational rigors these students will soon face.
“We like to call this an academic boot camp,” said Beth Kransberger, assistant dean for admissions and financial aid at Thomas Jefferson. Kransberger wrote the proposal that attracted the program to the campus.
“We're pushing them even harder than first-year law students get pushed,” she said. “This is not a kinder, gentler place in terms of academics. It is very much a tough-love environment.”
Kransberger said law schools have a responsibility to reach out to populations that historically have been underrepresented in the legal profession and may not have had access to the same educational resources that other students receive.
She pointed to the words of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who wrote for the majority in a 5-4 decision three years ago that upheld the practice of considering race as a factor when reviewing applicants for the University of Michigan's law school.
O'Connor wrote that the institution has a compelling interest in attaining a diverse student body.
“It's not that we need more baby lawyers, it's that we need pathways to leadership to be open to everyone,” said Kransberger, paraphrasing O'Connor.
“These are students who we know can do the work,” Kransberger said.
Each year CLEO hosts the program at two law schools around the country. Some CLEO scholars were sent this year to William Mitchell College of Law in Minneapolis, Minn.
Rudy Hasl, a member of CLEO's board of directors, said more than a decade has passed since the summer institute was held in California. Bringing the program to San Diego became one of his primary goals when he took over as dean at Thomas Jefferson last July.
“We've really made a very conscious effort to make the program as hospitable as possible,” Hasl said.
The students, who are housed on the San Diego State University campus, began taking classes six days a week at Thomas Jefferson early last month.The students studied legal writing, constitutional and contract law and were also taught networking skills and issues dealing with professionalism.
They also took a field trip to the Mexican border to help them better understand immigration issues and visited local courthouses. They spent hours in federal court with federal Judge John Houston, who is a CLEO graduate, and met other legal professionals including federal Judge Napoleon Jones and Superior Court Judge Browder Willis.
So far the students seem to be enjoying the experience.
“I think it's a really wonderful opportunity,” said Daniele Wilson of Long Island, N.Y., who said the program has helped boost her confidence as she prepares to start law school at Tulane University in New Orleans in the fall.
“I was unsure of whether I'd be a competitive law student,” Wilson said. “I'm realizing that it is difficult, but it's very beneficial.”
Trey Baker, a 22-year-old from Grenada, Miss., said the program has helped him learn which learning skills work for him and which don't. The Tougaloo College graduate said he plans to attend law school at American University in Washington, D.C., in the fall and may one day consider a career in politics.
“It's beneficial to know what the rules are before you try to change them,” Baker said.
Dana Littlefield: (619) 542-4590; dana.littlefield@uniontrib.com
