News Archive
IU McKinney Summer Academy Reaches Out to Undergrads
03/01/2018
Applications are available now for the annual Summer Law and Leadership Academy June 3-9, 2018, at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
The Summer Law and Leadership Academy is a one-week law school immersion experience for motivated undergraduate students who are considering law school, offering an inside look at life in law school and opportunities for law school graduates.
Throughout the week, undergraduate college students attend typical law school classes taught by IU McKinney faculty and participate in mock pre-trial and trial exercises. In addition, participants are guided through activities and assessments to identify their skills and leadership qualities, and have opportunities to network with IU McKinney students, faculty, and alumni.
There is no cost to attend, and daily lunch is included. Admission is competitive. The strongest applicants possess an undergraduate G.P.A. over 2.5 and have completed at least 32 undergraduate credits. Recommendations and an application statement are also required.
Applications for the program are due April 20, 2018.
The summer academy offers seminars on criminal law, health law, judicial behavior, intellectual property law, and other trending topics. Through experiential learning, students build skills in negotiations, legal writing, and trial tactics. Participants also visit a law firm or judicial chambers, and lunch with current law students and alumni.
Kayla Moody-Grant, a current IU McKinney Law student and a 2015 Summer Law and Leadership Academy participant said that the program helped her prepare for law school.
“Like a lot of people, I had always thought about applying to law school, but it is such a big commitment in terms of both time and money, that I wanted to be sure I knew what I was getting into,” Moody-Grant said. “The Summer Law & Leadership Academy made the idea of law school much less scary—like a one-stop shop for finding out everything you need to know about applying, what classes are like, and the many ways you can use a law degree in a lot of different kinds of careers.”
The Summer Law and Leadership Academy is designed to introduce undergraduate students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, as well as first-generation students, to law school and the career opportunities available with a law degree, according to Chasity Thompson, Assistant Dean of the law school’s Office of Professional Development.
“The program is a wonderful opportunity to help students better understand the process of learning to ‘think like a lawyer’ and gain more knowledge about life in law school and beyond,” according to Dean Thompson.
She is one of the program’s organizers, along with IU McKinney Professor of Law Shawn Boyne, who said that the Summer Law and Leadership Program has become a critical feeder program to the law school.
“This program and our ongoing recruitment efforts play a critically important role in helping our admissions team build a racially and culturally diverse student body,” Professor Boyne said.
