Dear Pathway to Law School Partners:
Last week was a BIG week…the official launch of California LAW, Inc., the 501(c)(3) that is in place to coordinate, collaborate, communicate and connect the entire pipeline of our 14+ Law Academies, our 23+ Community Colleges, our 6 undergraduate institutions and our 6 law schools!! The first board meeting for California LAW was held at the State Bar of California’s San Francisco office. Some of our highlights….
1) Formation included adoption of Bylaws, election of Officers, ratification of committees, adoption of Mission and Vision statements. (see our Mission and Vision statement below). We are still building our board.
2) A Report from our Chair, Thuy Thi Nguyen, sharing the history of the Pathway to Law School Initiative, playing the inspirational video of lawyers who attended community college “When You Dream.” You can all view this video sites.google.com/site/calbardream/ and San Jose CC’s outreach video at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Uyd82wKGukdDFmdm51TzNFbW8/view?usp=sharing.
3) Chair Nguyen will be sending our Pathway to Law School partners a special invitation for a conference call soon. Be watching for it. She will discuss:
1) Search for the permanent Executive Director
2) Continued funding for this Pathway and California LAW
3) Expansion of the community college family
4) I reported on my meetings with you and the common threads running through our conversations. I look forward to continuing my meetings with the remaining colleges. Our website domain has been reserved as CaliforniaLawInc.org. Now all we need is someone to build our website. Any volunteers?
5) Many of you have asked questions about our COAF Scholar Program. The board is investigating this and will report back soon.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR OUR FIRST CALIFORNIA LAW SUMMIT – FEBRUARY 20, 2016. The entire high school to law school pipeline partnership is invited. That includes our 14 high school law academies, our partner community colleges, our undergraduate institutions and our law schools. We will all be together in one setting, learning from each other and hearing from experts and diversity champions in education and law. I promise you will be inspired and motivated to continue what you are doing. Please plan to be there. More details to follow as soon as confirmed.
Attached again for your interest and/or review:
1) Board Agenda
2) Board Bios
3) CCPLS Powerpoint
4) California Law Academy Support Council Powerpoint
A WARM WELCOME to the State Bar of California’s new Executive Director, ELIZABETH RINDSKOPF PARKER. Her appointment was announced last Thursday and I am thrilled. Elizabeth was my boss/dean at Pacific McGeorge School of Law where I was Asst Dean for Career Services. Elizabeth is one of the original champions for diversity having started her career as a lawyer for the NAACP. With her at the helm, the pipeline work that the State Bar supports and leads will go to the next level. We are all in good hands!!!
That’s it for now…..be watching for Thuy’s email to set up a conference call with all of you. I will send this with a bcc as well and hope that most of you get this.
Apologies if you receive this twice. Remember….”You are the pebbles of hope that cascade out and change the world.”
Warm regards,
Ruthe
California LAW, Inc.
(Leadership-Access-Workforce)
Building a Diversity Pipeline from High School to Law School
Ruthe Catolico Ashley, Esq.
Interim Executive Director
101 W. American Canyon Rd., Suite 508-111
American Canyon, CA 94503-1162
(916) 838-5457
Our MISSION: “To establish a pipeline of diverse students from high schools, community colleges, four-year institutions, and law schools into law or law-related careers so that the legal profession reflects the diverse population of the State of California.”
Our VISION: A Diverse Legal Profession