Why are you willing to spend the time to be a LAW SCHOOL … Sí Se Puede Mentor?

By Corelle Spettigue, Mentor
Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Colorado Attorney General

As a young woman who came from a relatively middle class background, I never really doubted that I would someday attend a university and pursue a career in something. That is just what my family did; what was expected. And, being a fickle teenager, I was not sure what that “something” might be.  But  I always enjoyed the security of knowing that I would figure it out. I had the support, stability, and good sense to figure it out, come what may.                                                 

What I did not know, and what I came to learn very quickly, is that I was a part of a very fortunate minority. For so many, it is not a question of where you want to attend school, but if you can afford it. Can you succeed in a place that is so foreign to you? Can you penetrate through the artificial barriers that hold so many back?

The answer is a resounding YES! But, like everyone, guidance and support are such an integral part to this journey for any young person. I was fortunate to have this invisible sense of security, largely because I sought guidance and support along the way.  I hope to be able to pay that forward; to model behaviors that yield positive outcomes, meaningful relationships, and fulfillment in any endeavor. And, to be clear, the benefit is not one-sided. It is not only the Fellows who benefit from this program. It is uplifting and reassuring for me to know that we have such a strong and tenacious new generation of leaders emerging. The grit and determination that I get to witness from this group of young people is inspiring, and drives me to be a better parent, mentor and friend.

So, for these reasons, I am not only willing, but I am grateful for the opportunity to be a LAW SCHOOL … Sí Se Puede mentor. These incredible individuals have bright futures ahead of them, and we are all so lucky to get to watch them reach out and go after their dreams.

Inspired by the Foundation of Education

By Shelley Mixion, Former Fellow

The thing that inspired me most to join LAW SCHOOL…Sí Se Puede is the exponential power of education.  It not only frees the educated, but it also arms the educated to help others.  As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  The more people who have an education, the easier it is to change the world.  For this reason, I truly believe that an education is the most valuable thing one can possess. 

Because of this belief,  when I heard about Judge Arguello’s Law School… Sí Se Puede, I felt compelled to be involved.  While I have enjoyed many great mentoring experiences through various legal organizations, the mentees had already succeeded in becoming a lawyer.  They had already graduated law school.  The mentoring process therefore was directed mostly toward helping the young lawyer navigate the legal profession.

LAW SCHOOL… Sí Se Puede, on the other hand, starts the mentoring process much earlier in the student’s life, at a more crucial and determinative point—when they enter college.  In view of the fact that many diversestudents lack the emotional, cultural, and/or financial support and resources to stay in college and graduate, LAW SCHOOL…Sí Se Puede can make a much more meaningful contribution to the community.  It helps the student to obtain an education, rather than after she has already done so.  Helping promising individuals recognize their own potential and gain the confidence needed to make it to graduation and beyond is akin to raising an army that can change the world.

Building Strong Relationships is a Life Lesson

By Paula Black, Mentor

Building strong relationships is the foundation of a career. They create openings for opportunities that are unimaginable at the time.

More than 30 years ago there were two young women whose paths would cross one day because they both forged strong relationships.

One was a young associate being interviewed by a law firm in Miami that impressed her by their interest in her as a person. They asked to meet her husband. Wow, no other law firm she interviewed with asked that question. She was excited to accept the job offer from this firm that demonstrated they cared about people. Her first impression turned out to be true. She forged a strong relationship with the lawyer she worked for, John Kozyak and to this day still stays in touch with him even though she left Miami decades ago.

The second young women is “yours truly.” I met this same lawyer, John Kozyak over 30 years ago and had the same impression. He is a caring “real” person. I have worked for his firm and socialized with them many times over the years. I built a strong relationship.

Fast forward to 2014. The lawyer that these two women became so fond of closed the loop and introduced the two women... Judge Arguello and me! As young women we both built strong relationships with John Kozyak never knowing that one day he would put the two of us in contact. I was opening an office in my home town of Denver and my good friend John Kozyak said you must meet my friend Judge Arguello. Judge Arguello and I both grew up in Colorado and we both had strong relationships that brought us together.

I took one look at what Judge Arguello was doing with Law School... Sí Se Puede and knew that I must help in any way that I could.

Two young women long ago built strong relationships that would bring us together to do this important work. Where will your strong relationships bring you one day?

“It’s Dermot, like Kermit with a ‘D.’ It’s Irish. I immigrated to Colorado in 1989.”

By Dermot Lynch, Mentor

Small talk becomes memorable—I’ve left a good impression, made you laugh, or perhaps triggered a twinkle in your smiling Irish eye.

My immigration story is always an asset, my first name a vehicle to immediate association with a much-loved diaspora.

“I’m Latoya Brown, I was wondering if you might have ten minutes when you would be willing to meet with me to briefly talk about your work.”

If Latoya sends the above email to a professor at a grad school she wants to attend, she is far less likely to receive a response than if “Brad Anderson” sends the exact same email.  According to a recent study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the difference in the response rate for this unsolicited correspondence with a potential mentor is 21 percent higher for men with Caucasian-sounding names than for those that sound African-American and female. 

The Penn study shows just how much access your name can buy, and it hits on an important distinction between the “gateway” and “pathway” problems that underrepresented groups face in attending graduate school.  According to the Penn study’s authors, “Gateways are entry points into valued organizations, communities or institutions, while pathways describe the more fluid processes that influence one’s ability to access an entry point and to be successful after entry.”

I have joined LAW SCHOOL…Sí Se Puede to tackle the pathway problems I see in the law school admissions process: the subtle characteristics of undergraduate studies that allow some to have an edge in even making it to the gatekeepers at elite legal institutions. 

Judge Arguello’s solution to pathway problems is to create a supportive network for students from groups under-represented in the legal profession so they can learn from each other and from those who have already run the admissions gauntlet. I am excited to play a small part in the mission for change that she so ably directs.  

Why I Work with LAW SCHOOL... Sí Se Puede

By Ed Hopkins, Mentor

If you asked its current leaders whether they believe the legal profession’s leadership should be more diverse and inclusive, most of them would answer yes. If you asked them what they are doing to help make it more diverse and inclusive, most of them would find it difficult to give you a better answer than nothing. Answering yes to the question, by itself, will not make the legal profession’s leadership more diverse or inclusive. Those who would answer yes must also act if we want things to change.

In twenty years, I want the makeup of our profession’s leadership to mirror our nation’s population. To do this, I must help talented young people from historically underrepresented groups obtain the same social capital, resources, and knowledge that their better-resourced peers enjoy. Helping talented young people in this way will remove their barriers to entering the legal profession and help them compete on level playing fields for opportunities to lead it.

If those of us who would answer yes support it, LAW SCHOOL,,, Sí Se Puede will work. It assigns dedicated, three-person Mentor Teams to each LAW SCHOOL... Sí Se Puede Fellow when the Fellow begins his or her freshman year of college. Over a four-year period, these Mentor Teams coach and educate their Fellows to help them succeed academically, build relationships, gain valuable professional and cultural experiences, prepare for the LSAT, and win admission to excellent law schools. LAW SCHOOL,,, Sí Se Puede is also a professional network that will help its alumni pursue the legal careers they want to pursue and become our profession’s future leaders.

I work with LAW SCHOOL... Sí Se Puede because I need to do more than merely agree that the legal profession’s leadership should be more diverse and inclusive. I need to help make it so.