Overview

The program tackles the lack of diversity in the legal profession by focusing on strategies that will encourage and prepare students of color to enter the legal profession. It provides students with role models, the opportunities to connect with lawyers, and the opportunity to experience the types of work lawyers do.  Students are able to broaden their impressions of the legal profession and fuel their interest in legal careers.  The program sets out to achieve these objectives through three program components: classroom visits, a conference at the corporate headquarters, and program extensions for the most promising students.

To become involved in the Corporate Diversity Pipeline Program, contact:

Lee Arbetman, director of U.S. programs (240.821.1310, ) or

Megan Hanson, program director (240.821.1316, ).

Program Components

Street Law pairs each participating corporate legal department with one or more high school classes.  Street Law provides training to the corporate volunteers and participating teachers, as well as guidance on topic selection and lesson plans.  There are three components to this program:

1. Classroom Visits: Legal department volunteers visit their partner classroom 2-6 times over the course of the semester to teach about topics in civil law and the legal profession. 
2. Conference at the Company: Students attend a day-long conference.  They participate in interactive, authentic workshops on legal topics where they utilize the skills and knowledge acquired over the course of the semester.  The students also attend a career fair at the conference, where they learn about the variety of legal jobs in the corporate sector. 
3. Enhancements: In the second year of the program, most corporations offer some sort of follow-up with the most promising students – several have offered job shadow days, mentoring, internships, or scholarships. 

Corporate partners

As of June 2008, the following corporations were conducting diversity pipeline programs in conjunction with Street Law, Inc. and their local schools:

• McDonald's Corporation (Oakbrook, IL)
• The Coca-Cola Company (Atlanta)
• Central Pennsylvania ACC Chapter (Hershey, PA)
• Choice Hotels International, Inc. (Silver Spring, MD)
• PPG Industries, Inc. (Pittsburgh)
• General Motors Corporation (Detroit)
• Fannie Mae (Washington, DC)
• Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ)
• Marriott International, Inc. (Bethesda, MD)
• Southern California Edison (Rosemead, CA)
• Safeco (Seattle and Long Beach, CA)
• CA, Inc. (Islandia, NY)
• Marriott Vacation Club International (Orlando)
• Chicago ACC Chapter (Chicago and Elgin, IL)
• Allstate (Chicago, Newark, and Washington DC)
• Macy’s (Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Francisco, New York, Atlanta)
• DuPont (Wilmington, DE)
• Discovery Communications (Silver Spring, MD)
• IKON Office Solutions (Malvern, PA)
• The Clorox Company (Oakland)
• MoneyGram International, Inc. (Minneapolis)
• Intelsat (Washington, DC)
• General Electric (CT, Atlanta, NYC and Chicago)
• MMC (New York City)
• Bank of America (Charlotte)
• Wyndham Worldwide & Wyndham Vacation Ownership (Orlando)
• International Paper (Memphis)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (Atlanta)
• Eli Lilly & Baker and Daniels (Indianapolis, IN)
• BlueCross BlueShield of TN & Chambliss Bahner & Stophel (Chattanooga, TN)
• NBC Universal (New York, NY)
• Washington Metropolitan Chapter of the ACC (Washington, DC)

General Information

Program Brochure

Program Components & Topics

Logic Model for Increasing Diversity in the Legal Profession

Evaluation Findings

Electronic Library

Street Law has compiled extensive resources, lesson plans, conference workshops, and career fair ideas on our password-protected electronic library. Participating sites are encouraged to download already-prepared lessons and activities for use with the students.