News & Press
Leg Up Legal partners with The Playing Field Project to provide mentorship to low-income BIPOC students
Dallas / New York - Jan. 13, 2021, 4:30pm CST
Leg Up Legal, a mentoring program and platform for prospective law students, and The Playing Field Project, a non-profit organization seeking to diversify the legal profession, are proud to announce a new partnership that will provide low-income BIPOC prospective law students with access to LSAT preparation, application assistance, mentorship, and law school preparation.
The Playing Field Project is a non-profit organization and its mission is to diversify the legal profession by sponsoring more low-income BIPOC students through their law school career. Leg Up Legal is proud to support their mission by providing access to mentorship for low-income BIPOC students through this new partnership.
It comes as no surprise that entering the legal profession is a very costly endeavor. Before spending a dollar on law school itself, the "toll" to even enter the race is often more than those with limited means can afford. Costly LSAT preparation courses, tutoring, application consultants, and LSAC/admissions fees serve as a significant and often insurmountable barrier, widening the admissions divide between those who can afford the services and those who cannot. These financial barriers further disadvantage communities through two primary mechanisms: (1) limiting the attainment of high-paying professional legal positions and (2) denying these communities access to the professional training most critical to the pursuit of social justice.
The Playing Field Project plans to tackle these barriers by financially sponsoring candidates through five key phases prior to attending school: 1) LSAT preparation and registration fee; 2) application and admissions assistance; 3) pre-law mentorship; 4) pre-law summer program; and 5) law school support. Our vision extends past the admission process as The Playing Field Project ultimately hopes to continue its programming for law students during their time in law school to ensure success through graduation and in their careers.
Through our partnership, Leg Up Legal will provide students with access to our community of attorney mentors, a cloud-based mentoring platform and mobile app, legal mentoring curriculum, and community programming for prospective law students. We are incredibly excited to work with The Playing Field Project and its students. Mentorship is absolutely essential to help prospective law students explore possible career paths, discover opportunities to obtain meaningful experience, develop their first professional connections, find support and guidance, and develop a sense of belonging.
The Playing Field Project plans to launch its first cohort of students this year and plans to start accepting applications for its first cohort in Spring. Stay tuned for further announcements.
If you are a prospective law student interested in applying to the first cohort, please email [email protected] and we can add you to the waiting list for the application.
If you are an attorney who is interested in donating to The Playing Field Project or your law firm may be interested in sponsoring the project, please email [email protected] and we can connect you with the founders of The Playing Field Project who can provide more information to you about donation options and sponsorship packages.
To learn more about Leg Up Legal, please visit www.leguplegal.com.
To learn more about The Playing Field Project, please visit www.theplayingfieldproject.org.
