The University of Chicago Law School was honored last week for its efforts toward diversity and inclusion by the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO), an organization devoted to inspiring, motivating, and preparing students from underrepresented communities to succeed in law school and the legal profession. The Law School was one of three honorees in the education category at the 2019 CLEO Edge Awards in Washington, D.C.

“We are proud of the work we have done to increase the diversity of our student body, and we are proud of our partnership with CLEO that has helped us make progress toward our goals,” said Dean Thomas J. Miles, the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics, noting that students of color make up 40 percent of the class of 2022, the largest cohort to date. “Diversity is central to our mission of inquiry and exploring legal questions from multiple perspectives.”

For the past four years, the Law School’s admissions team has worked with CLEO to offer a two-day workshop, Achieving Success in the Application Process (ASAP), to help prospective law students prepare for the law school application process. In addition, they have worked with CLEO to host a two-day workshop, Attitude is Essential, that helps prepare incoming law students for their 1L year. The seminar, aimed at students from any law school, covers topics such as case briefing, legal research and writing, conquering law school exams, and managing time and finances.

“The work of CLEO and the pipeline opportunities it creates for underrepresented students is something that aligns closely with our mission,” said Director of Diversity and Inclusion Christopher Clarke, who joined the Law School staff earlier this year. “As the first-ever director of diversity of inclusion at the Law School, I am grateful for our unique partnership. Students are often seeking more opportunities to learn, connect, grow, and serve, and it is our job as thought leaders to remove as many barriers possible so that they can succeed. It is through diverse representation in legal education that we can truly achieve transformational change and prepare the next generation of lawyers.”

CLEO, the longest-serving national organization committed to increasing diversity in the legal profession via legal education, presented nine awards to individuals and entities across three categories: education, diversity, and greater equality. The other two education honorees were John C. Brittain, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law, and Leonard M. Baynes, the dean of the University of Houston Law Center. In addition, Deval L. Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts and current managing director of Bain Capital Double Impact, received the second annual CLEO EDGE Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. Heritage Award, which was presented by Jordan.

“It was an inspiring event,” said Clarke, who accepted the award on the Law School’s behalf. “The room was full of diverse leaders from various industries committed to diversity and inclusion, including alums of UChicago Law, former members/benefactors of CLEO’s pre-law programming, and current CLEO students. It was an intimate, celebratory environment where the mission of CLEO remained the topic of discussion.”