KU News Release

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Law has received a grant from the Shook, Hardy & Bacon Foundation to increase the diversity of the legal profession by enriching the educational experience of law students from underrepresented groups and preparing them to enter the workforce.

The $7,500 grant will allow the law school to increase its slate of existing programs aimed at maximizing success for all students. Under the leadership of Betsy Brand Six, lawyering skills professor and director of academic resources, the law school will establish a structured study group program for first-year students who would benefit from additional help. The study groups will be led by Shook, Hardy & Bacon Scholars — third-year students who have been successful in law school.

“While all law students have been successful in their previous academic endeavors, all students do not come to law school with the same underlying skills and knowledge,” Six said. “The scholars program will provide those students who need extra resources with a role model to help teach them the skills they need to become a successful law student and lawyer.”

Programs already in place to help ensure student success in law school and the legal profession include

— An Entering Student Program that prepares students for their first-year courses. Students spend almost a week attending orientation and about 15 hours of skills sessions, during which they learn about court systems and the common law method. They also learn how to prepare for class and brief cases.

— The Dean’s Fellows program assigns a successful upper-level student to each first-year small section. The student is available throughout the year for general guidance and to answer questions about class preparation, outlining and exam preparation.

— Intervention meetings with students who are having difficulty succeeding. These meetings help identify obstacles to success and create a plan to address problems and improve achievement.

The Shook, Hardy & Bacon Foundation grant is part of more than $30,000 in grants the firm recently awarded to law schools in four states to support diversity programs.

“The mission of the SHB Foundation is to increase diversity in the legal workforce,” said foundation chair Jay Simpson. “This new grant program should further that goal by making sure that the law students are prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation. The foundation also intends to continue its program of funding diversity-related scholarships at the law schools.”

The firm supports diversity at KU’s law school in several ways. The Shook, Hardy & Bacon Foundation Diversity in Law Scholarship has been awarded to KU law students since 2007. The firm also offers one of two positions in its Diversity Writing Program to a KU law student, providing a 10-week paid internship during the school year that allows the student to work with lawyers to obtain real-world legal writing experience. In addition, the firm routinely co-sponsors the school’s Diversity in Law Banquet, an event that raises money for the Diversity Scholarship Fund.