Why We Serve

Given that many young, low-income students have never been exposed to lawyers and might not consider a career in the legal profession, society as a whole suffers when these talented individuals choose to pursue other opportunities. In response to this need, a number of pipeline programs have evolved at the high school and undergraduate level to increase awareness of, and build interest in, careers in the legal profession.

Once admitted to law school, despite drive or innate talent, students from underprivileged backgrounds without any lawyers to advise them often find themselves frustrated by a lack of familiarity with law schools’ illusive pedagogical approach and common strategies for success.  Pipeline to Practice is committed to equipping these students with skills and knowledge to help them define and achieve their legal ambitions. Because academic success in law school directly correlates to post-graduate employability, low-income students must fully prepare for the challenges they will face in law school; otherwise, the unintended consequence of early pipeline programs is a system that unwittingly saddles people with staggering law school debt and little hope of finding meaningful employment. Strong academic performance in law school is so crucial to having real career options, the legal profession has a moral obligation to ensure that the lives of students it attracts are improved by their decision to become lawyers, not worsened.

Promoting justice and a more inclusive legal profession hinges on the success of students in the pipeline. The next generation needs not only leaders who will continue to push for greater representation of all views, but also role models at various stages in their careers to call on for advice, mentorship professionals, and demonstrating that a successful career in law is an achievable goal regardless of your background.

To truly move the needle for low-income students in the legal profession, we need a long-term commitment to student success that provides tools for academic excellence, opportunities for meaningful employment, and a network of committed role models and mentors.

Lawyer Development

Almost every successful law student and lawyer can trace his or her development to three key stages in their academic and professional careers:

While proven, quality programming currently exists to help all students at each critical stage of development, it can be cost prohibitive. To insure that the best talent flourishes in our profession, we aim to remove the financial barriers that may preclude our program participants from enjoying a full opportunity to excel and lead.

Additionally, a legal education provides all students and early-stage attorneys with unique opportunities to improve their career options and maximize the return on their law school investments. However, many of these opportunities are time-sensitive with very small windows for appreciating their benefit and deciding whether or not to pursue them. A failure to timely consider/capitalize on these opportunities may permanently foreclose them; therefore, in addition to programming, the most successful attorneys seek out coaches to help them make (or at least identify) choices that can have profoundly positive impacts on their professional careers.

Like programming, willing coaches readily exist; however, students from underprivileged backgrounds often fear asking for help. To advise this cohort, we mobilize industry experts and experienced practitioners into a network of virtual coaches to help our program participants with the timely identification, assessment, and pursuit of career enhancement opportunities.

Our Vision

Pipeline to Practice Foundation seeks to promote and equitable legal profession by cultivating exceptional legal talent.  We aim to build outstanding law students and lawyers by offering access to various resources throughout their academic and professional careers, including:

• COACHING by industry experts, BigLaw hiring/assigning partners, and experienced practitioners that help them make informed, time-sensitive choices to maximize their professional options and develop the necessary “soft skills” that lead to rewarding careers and ensure long-term job satisfaction; and

• PROGRAMMING that is proven to improve academic performance in law school and that teaches practical skills to make them more attractive employment candidates and, ultimately, highly effective lawyers.

As program participants progress through our program, they must mentor members of subsequent classes and regularly release academic/employment metrics that help the Foundation evaluate its impact.

Volunteer Opportunities

• HUMAN CAPITAL – Success is multiplied when tasks are divided. If you have a conscientious member of your organization who is passionate about improving equity and representation in the legal profession, please use the form below to nominate him or her.
• PROFESSIONAL SERVICES – The Foundation seeks to keep its administrative expenses to a minimum so that every dollar we raise will benefit students/attorneys who apply for support; therefore, we gladly accept support in the form of professional services used to further the Foundation’s mission.
• FINANCIAL PLEDGE – Pipeline to Practice Foundation, Inc. is a tax-exempt non-profit charity as defined under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  All contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.