Press Inquiries • Articles

For Immediate Release
Contact: Adewale Oduye (312)895.4980, oduye@inlegalcolor.org
Date: January 6, 2006

How to Add More “Color” to U.S. Law Schools
Announcing Debut, Nonprofit ‘In Legal Color' Seeks to Increase Law School Diversity by Targeting High School and College Students of Color

CHICAGO, IL - In Legal Color, a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is joining the nationwide push for greater diversity within U.S. law schools. As the only nonprofit of its kind, In Legal Color has one simple mission: to diversify America 's law schools by providing inspiration, information, and support to prospective law students of color.

Increasing the number of law students of color is essential for a legal profession that is not reflective of the population it currently serves. While people of color comprise nearly 30 percent of the total U.S. population, they barely make up 10 percent of all U.S. attorneys.

“Any solution to diversify the [legal] profession as a whole must begin with getting more people of color into our law schools,” said Adewale Oduye, the founder and Executive Director of In Legal Color. “In order to accomplish this” Oduye adds, “one must actively engage high school and college students of color and educate them about the [legal] profession.”

In Legal Color will engage and educate high school and college students of color in the following manner:

• Facilitate interactive workshops that address various legal-related topics such as the law school application process, the law school experience, and the role of lawyers within U.S. society. In addition to accepting individual requests to facilitate workshops, In Legal Color will contact organizations in order to bring workshops to their constituents.

•  Host panels that invite law students, lawyers, and other legal practitioners to share their own legal experiences with prospective law students of color. In Legal Color will host these panels in various U.S. cities each year.

•  Provide information about law school and the legal profession, including written articles; in-depth interviews; and lawyer profiles. In Legal Color will post this information on its website.

•  Offer scholarships to select college students of color that will partially cover law school tuition and fully cover test preparation classes for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).

In Legal Color is accessible via the internet at http://www.inlegalcolor.org . For more information about In Legal Color, please contact its Executive Director via phone, (312)895.4980 or via email, oduye@inlegalcolor.org.

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