October 27, 2014

Why I Work with LAW SCHOOL... Sí Se Puede

October 27, 2014/ LAW SCHOOL … Sí Se Puede

By Ed Hopkins, Mentor

If you asked its current leaders whether they believe the legal profession’s leadership should be more diverse and inclusive, most of them would answer yes. If you asked them what they are doing to help make it more diverse and inclusive, most of them would find it difficult to give you a better answer than nothing. Answering yes to the question, by itself, will not make the legal profession’s leadership more diverse or inclusive. Those who would answer yes must also act if we want things to change.

In twenty years, I want the makeup of our profession’s leadership to mirror our nation’s population. To do this, I must help talented young people from historically underrepresented groups obtain the same social capital, resources, and knowledge that their better-resourced peers enjoy. Helping talented young people in this way will remove their barriers to entering the legal profession and help them compete on level playing fields for opportunities to lead it.

If those of us who would answer yes support it, LAW SCHOOL,,, Sí Se Puede will work. It assigns dedicated, three-person Mentor Teams to each LAW SCHOOL... Sí Se Puede Fellow when the Fellow begins his or her freshman year of college. Over a four-year period, these Mentor Teams coach and educate their Fellows to help them succeed academically, build relationships, gain valuable professional and cultural experiences, prepare for the LSAT, and win admission to excellent law schools. LAW SCHOOL,,, Sí Se Puede is also a professional network that will help its alumni pursue the legal careers they want to pursue and become our profession’s future leaders.

I work with LAW SCHOOL... Sí Se Puede because I need to do more than merely agree that the legal profession’s leadership should be more diverse and inclusive. I need to help make it so.

“Sí, Se Puede” is a phrase born of farmworkers, who, under the leadership of the UFW, César Chávez, and Dolores Huerta, fought valiantly for equal protection under the law. As a result of the efforts of the UFW, “Sí, Se Puede” has become well known as a call that engenders hope and inspiration in those who face similar battles. We thank the UFW, whom we acknowledge to be the sole and exclusive owner of the Trademark SI SE PUEDE, for granting us a limited license to use“Sí, Se Puede” in connection with our efforts to recruit, in Colorado, students of Hispanic or Latino descent for our law school pipeline program. For more information about the programs offered by the UFW, please see UFW’s webpage (www.ufw.org); UFW Foundation’s webpage (www.ufwfoundation.org); and UFWF’s immigration services webpage (www.sisepuede.org)