New Diversity Scholarships Award Access to Better Legal Education
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – PracticePro has announced the expansion of its Diversity Scholarship Program to an all-inclusive training and coaching program for law students and new graduates as they advance through the legal education pipeline. PracticePro has also introduced Mavrakakis Law Group LLP as its most recent diversity scholarship sponsor, joining the global firms of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, to help make this expansion possible.
Scholarship applications have already quadrupled in 2015. And, a substantial majority of applicants are the first in their family to attend law school or even university. “Unlike those who have parents, relatives, or even family friends with professional backgrounds, I did not have any close role models to turn to in my professional development. I always learned about formalities and professional expectations from trial and error, brief conversations with others, or through Internet research. The diversity award would level the starting ground that I was never able to begin on,” wrote one scholarship applicant.
“As our company grows and with the help of law firm and corporate partners, we will make every effort to provide scholarships to every eligible law student in the country,” promised Niki Khoshzamir, PracticePro Founder and CEO. A one-year-old startup based in San Francisco, PracticePro offers skills training, new attorney boot camps, and coaching programs, to help prepare law students and new graduates for the real-world skills expected of them as attorneys.
Last year, the PracticePro Diversity Scholarship Program provided diverse first-year law students full scholarships to attend the PracticePro Career Conference in the spring of their first year and learn the basics of excellent work product, professional communications, and nurturing client relationships. This year, the Scholarship Program has expanded to also give recipients an extensive career coaching package to assist them as they plan their career and interview for jobs. Finally, to become more practice ready, the recipients attend the PracticePro Backpack to Briefcase: New Attorney Basics conference in the fall before or after graduation.
“During this enormous transition in legal education, law students will need to acquire broader knowledge and more practical skills than ever before as they prepare to join and navigate the profession in the 21st Century. In addition to working closely with their faculty, students will need more hands-on experience and mentoring from professional organizations like PracticePro,” said Professor Bryan Fair of the University of Alabama.
“At McDermott Will & Emery LLP, we are committed to promoting diverse lawyers and law students to excel in their legal careers. To this end, we support many organizations that promote diversity and are proud to be one of the diversity scholarship sponsors at PracticePro. PracticePro can be an excellent source for bridging the gap between the life at a law school and the life at a law firm and make the law students’ transition to the law firm life easier,” wrote Babak Akhlaghi, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
PracticePro will host its annual Diversity Reception & Scholarship Fundraiser in San Francisco (April 8, 2015), Houston (June 10, 2015), and Washington, D.C. (June 26, 2015).
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PracticePro (www.practicepro.cc) is a national company bridging the gap between law school and law practice through a variety of training, consulting, and diversity programs. For details on how to become a diversity scholarship sponsor, email scholarships@practicepro.cc.