Spring Pipeline Programs Culminate in Student Field Trips to Corporate Headquarters

Street Law’s Legal Diversity Pipeline Program brings together corporate legal departments and diverse high school students across the United States. Each semester the program culminates with a field trip to corporate headquarters where students participate in workshops and career fair activities. In spring 2013 the following corporate program sites hosted conferences for Pipeline students:

• The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) hosted 26 students from Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School at their headquarters in downtown, Washington, DC.  ACC volunteers led sessions on immigration law, employment law, discrimination, and contracts. At the career fair, professionals from all departments talked to students about their careers and career paths. The students clearly internalized the lessons learned from ACC: one student noted, “Yes, this [program] has changed the way I view things because now I see you could use law to work internationally.”
• Cohen Milstein had 18 students from Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School come to their Washington, DC office to learn about employment discrimination, contracts, and the First Amendment (specifically the significance of religion when drafting a school policy). Students listened to a paralegal, currently attending law school at night, talk about his career path from working in the mail department at Cohen Milstein to becoming a paralegal to deciding to pursue law school. Students thought about their own future career paths: high-schooler Latrice said, “The experience even made me consider becoming a lawyer because I got the chance to learn that lawyers really help people, which is something I enjoy doing.”
• Hughes Network Systems & Washington Metropolitan Area Corporate Counsel Association (WMACCA) were visited by 37 Clarksburg High School students at Hughes’ Germantown, MD headquarters. Students learned about discrimination and contracts and participated in a mini mock trial to get an in depth understanding of the laws related to advertising. For one student, the best part of the field trip was just interacting with the lawyers: “It was cool how we could talk to lawyers about what they do and learn a little bit more about their career.”
• Sherwin-Williams and Ogletree Deakins hosted 36 Shaw High School students in Cleveland, OH. Volunteers conducted workshops on employment discrimination, contracts, and cyberbullying.
• WellPoint and Foley & Lardner hosted 34 St. Joan Antida high school students at Foley’s Milwaukee office. The high-schoolers learned about sexual harassment and contracts and participated in an activity on car accident liability that helped students understand the different phases of litigation. One student especially enjoyed the sexual harassment workshop and said, “I am grateful to have gone and learned about it because not a lot of people get the chance to do that.”
• CSC partnered with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Columbia, South Carolina to teach 17 students at Columbia High School about sexual harassment and contracts. After the classroom lessons, teacher Melony Sanford hosted lunch for volunteers and students which allowed them to interact with each other in an informal setting.

In August look for our 2012-13 Progress Report on the NALP/Street Law Legal Diversity Pipeline Program, which will describe the accomplishments of the law firms participating in the program.