Students and volunteers from the law profession encourage legal careers among youth from under-represented communities
By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
More than 120 aspiring law students packed the Moot Court room at the law school on March 4, 2011 as part of the annual “See Yourself Here” Open House, a day organized to help demystify the JD admission process.
Traditionally an event organized by the Black Law Students Association for Black high school and undergraduate students, this year’s organizer, Renatta Austin 2L, decided to really open up the Open House and encourage students from other under-represented communities to attend. And attend they did, an energetic group from Aboriginal, Tamil, Portuguese, Indo-Caribbean, Hispanic, Arabic and Tamil communities.
“I went to high school in downtown Toronto, and it was very multicultural,” says Austin. “But when I started law school, I didn’t see many of these groups around me.”
With the help of Lisa Del Col, Aboriginal program coordinator, Austin lined up a full day of speakers, including the dean, the admissions and financial aid director, panelists from various areas of law and different multicultural groups, and current law students, all of which served to provide an ideal networking and information backdrop for the day. Questions continued well past session time limits, as students crowded speakers to find out more about individual career paths.
Austin provided her own personal insights and experiences in a session called “So you want to be a lawyer, eh?” and students broke off into separate groups for high school and undergrad students in the afternoon to learn about LSAT tips and courtroom advocacy skills.
It didn’t take long for the impact of the Open House to be felt among the students.
"I really enjoyed the fact that all my worries about not being able to attain a law degree due to my background were completely quashed,” said one student in the feedback survey. ”I really and truly appreciated what many of the legal professionals told us about their own long and hard journeys to getting their law degrees, despite their disadvantaged backgrounds. .. I left a different person with a clear set of goals in front of me and I also left with the unwavering determination to pursue my dreams."
"I was pleasantly surprised as to how many of the law students at the UofT Faculty of Law were students of colour. I had some great conversations with young Black women who gave me a great insight into their journey to get into law school. I left feeling empowered and positive that if they can do it, so can I."
Plans are underway for the See Yourself Here Open House for 2012. If you are a legal professional and wish to volunteer as a panelist or speaker, please contact: Renatta.austin@utoronto.ca
Renatta Austin
