Contribute money to help defray tuition and other costs for minority law school students. Encourage minority students to apply for the scholarship fund established under the leadership of former ABA President Bill Paul. Serve as a mentor for one or more minority students. Provide minority students with jobs, externships, or internships that will enable them to gain practical instruction and experience in how to survive in law school and the legal profession. Write the dean of your alma mater to inquire about policies for hiring minority faculty and other administrators and for recruitment, admission, and retention of minority students.
Data show that minority students fare better in law schools that have minority faculty.
Help open the pipeline for future lawyers by having your bar association adopt a high school, junior high school, or elementary school. Lawyers can reach back to serve as role models for students, particularly those who may not have many positive examples in their environments. Work to close the technology gap or the digital divide in the public schools in your community by implementing a computer recycling program. As you upgrade personal or business computer equipment, donate the old ones to deserving students. In 1998, the National Bar Association launched a Computers in Our Communities Action Plan to do just that.