Law School Wins Diversity Outreach Award
The National Black Pre-Law Conference honors Suffolk Law
Suffolk Law School was recognized at the 15th Anniversary celebration of the Annual National Black Pre-Law Conference & Law Fair with that organization’s “Outstanding Law School Diversity Outreach Award.”
The Law School has seen an increase in the diversity of its student body over the last few years in part as a result of admissions outreach and the school’s focus on diversity pipeline programs. One example of the pipeline in action is recent Law School graduate Sam Faisal, JD ’20. He was mentored by Suffolk Law students during high school through the Marshall Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.
Faisal wasn’t initially thinking of becoming an attorney, until he began receiving lessons in constitutional law from two Suffolk Law students at his public high school in Boston. His mentors were serving in a group of Marshall Brennan fellows, who fanned out to Boston area public schools to teach subjects like free speech in the high school context, search and seizure law, and civil rights in police encounters.
Faisal wasn’t initially thinking of becoming an attorney, until he began receiving lessons in constitutional law from two Suffolk Law students at his public high school in Boston. His mentors were serving in a group of Marshall Brennan fellows, who fanned out to Boston area public schools to teach subjects like free speech in the high school context, search and seizure law, and civil rights in police encounters.
As a law student, Faisal became a mentor in the same program, commuting a few times a week to train a public high school class. One of Faisal’s students went on to win one of the country’s preeminent high school moot courts—with federal judges deciding the final round. Faisal was named a Law Student of the Year by National Jurist magazine, one of just ten honorees across the country.
“It was an honor to receive the award from the National Black PreLaw Conference,” said Suffolk Law’s Director of Student Engagement and Inclusion Cherina Wright. “We need a diverse group of law students and graduates to bring their voices and experiences into the law community, into classrooms, law firms, courtrooms and the places where law is crafted. To achieve that goal involves focus from a wide range of people including students, faculty, alumni, law firms, government and community leaders, and important organizations like the PreLaw Conference.”
“It was an honor to receive the award from the National Black PreLaw Conference,” said Suffolk Law’s Director of Student Engagement and Inclusion Cherina Wright. “We need a diverse group of law students and graduates to bring their voices and experiences into the law community, into classrooms, law firms, courtrooms and the places where law is crafted. To achieve that goal involves focus from a wide range of people including students, faculty, alumni, law firms, government and community leaders, and important organizations like the PreLaw Conference.”