A Comprehensive Approach to Law School Access Admissions
![handle is hein.journals/margin18 and id is 193 raw text is:
A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO LAW SCHOOL ACCESS
ADMISSIONS
Jeffrey J. Minneti*
INTRODUCTION
This article makes two contributions to this important
symposium. First, it provides a theoretical framework for building an
Access Admission Program. Second, it gives the framework flesh,
color, and voice through a description of the Access Admission
Program at Seattle University School of Law.
Others have persuasively argued that there is a need for inclusive
law school admission practices, noting that the strength of our
democracy is conditioned upon its capacity to represent the interests of
all citizens, and that such representation requires advocates who can
speak on behalf of underrepresented populations from personal
experience.' Many of our nation's leaders are lawyers; lawyers play
critical roles in the civil and criminal justice systems; lawyers shape the
regulatory landscape; and lawyers' critical thinking guides public and
private institutions.2 Inclusive admission practices ensure that lawyers
from underrepresented populations take part in these essential roles.3 As
a result, our legal system will have greater integrity and legitimacy.4
A lawyer's professional formation begins in law school.
Inclusive admission practices ensure that classroom discussion will be
@ 2018 Jeffrey J. Minneti
* Director of the Academic Resource Center and Associate Professor of Law, Seattle
University School of Law. The author is grateful for the School of Law's financial
support of this project. The Author thanks Emeritus Professors Paula Lustbader and
David Boemer whose vision, passion, creativity, and tenacity built the Access
Admission Program at Seattle University School of Law, providing a space for
students from underrepresented populations to become lawyers and change the
world. The Author is grateful to the Access Admission students and alumni he has
had the privilege to know and work with. They inspired and fueled this project.
' Paula Lustbader, Painting Beyond the Numbers: The Art ofProviding Inclusive
Law School Admission to Ensure Full Representation in the Profession, 40 CAP. U.
L. REv. 71, 79-80 (2012) [hereinafter Lustbader, Beyond the Numbers]; Eli Wald, A
Primer on Diversity and Why, 24 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 1079, 1101-02 (2011).
2 Lustbader, Beyond the Numbers, supra note 1, at 79-80; Wald, supra note 1, at
1079.
Lustbader, Beyond the Numbers, supra note 1, at 79-80; Wald, supra note 1, at
1101-03.
4 Lustbader, Beyond the Numbers, supra note 1, at 80; Wald, supra note 1, at 1101-
03.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/margin18&div=8&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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A Comprehensive Approach to Law School Access Admissions
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