A rather remarkable and exciting opportunity is available to those who are interested in attending law school, but not in hocking your entire future income to do it.
We would love for some young Oklahoma progressive to take advantage of it, then return to the state and use your new knowledge and skill to fight for justice and equality here.
** PLEASE FORWARD **
Dear Friends, Colleagues and Troublemakers,
A year ago this week, I saw an email with this “Tuition-Free Law
School for Activists” title. It seemed to have my name on it. I
applied and ended up being one of four chosen in the first year of
this scholarship program. They aim to give away 20 full “free rides”
through 3 years of law school to the best activists who apply for it.
Having moved to DC in August and just having completed my first
semester, I can say that this is a really special school and I’d love
to see some of you reading this (or those you know) take advantage of
this amazing opportunity. I’d especially like to assure that the
scholarship recipients are the most radical, dedicated, grassroots
activists who are committed to spending their lives in the trenches
continuing to do great work, but with the extra tool of having that
“Esq.” after your name.
WHY THIS SCHOOL ROCKS: The scholarship is associated with the
University of the District of Columbia’s law school. The law school
used to be the private Antioch School of Law. Now that it has merged
with UDC and has become the nation’s only federal law school, it is
still founded, administered and taught by impressive social justice
activists.
Among other excuses for not pursuing a law degree in the 12 years
since my undergrad were that I couldn’t afford to go into debt and
have to sell my soul to pay it off, and that I didn’t want to feel
like I was in a corporate firm clone factory. UDC is completely
different.
It’s an institution that reflects my activist values and there’s no
soul-selling required.
UDC is the nation’s 3rd smallest law school (about 250 students
enrolled, across all 3 years). It’s very diverse by age, race and more
(more on this below). They’ll probably kill me for writing this, but
UDC is also easier to get into than many other law schools.
Please share this with opportunity with others you know who may be interested.
DEADLINES: If you haven’t taken the LSAT yet, you may have just missed
the deadline to register for the February LSAT by the time you see
this. Deadline to register by phone is Jan 16th. If you miss this
(like I did, because I saw it too late), don’t panic. While they want
you to apply to the school (application is due March 15th) having
taken the February LSAT, they’ll let you take it in June and get back
to them with your score. You’ll need to write and get permission for
this. See
http://www.lsac.org/LSAT/test-dates-deadlines.asp for the LSAT
deadlines. March 15th is the deadline for applying to the school.
April 15th is the deadline for applying for the scholarship.
If you have any questions for the school, ask Donald Pritchett or Joe
Libertelli, whose info you can find in the official announcement
below. If you have questions about the experience here, feel free to
contact me. If you know me and would like a letter of recommendation
from me, let me know. Also, if you see this and plan to apply, shoot
me an email just to let me know. I’d love to know which of you great
activists I might have as fellow students next year. 
Struggle on,
Mike Ewall
Founder & Director,
ActionPA (www.actionpa.org ) &
Energy Justice Network (www.energyjustice.net)
catalyst@actionpa.org
——[The School's Official Announcement Below]——-
Dear Friends,
Below please find information on the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law
www.law.udc.edu and its Advocate for Justice Scholarship program:
http://www.law.udc.edu/?page=AFJ
To find out about the next Open House, contact Donald Pritchett at
DPritchett@udc.edu.
The Advocate for Justice Scholarship is specifically designed to
enable those who seek a law degree to further public service goals to
graduate without the crippling debt that can make public service
salaries untenable.
UDC-DCSL is a different kind of law school – a racially and
age-diverse, clinically-oriented, fully accredited public interest law
school in Washington, DC. Each year, UDC-DCSL students provide over
85,000 hours of free legal service to low-income Washingtonians,
non-profit law firms, community organizations, judges, and District
and federal government agencies. Each and every UDC-DCSL student
provides a minimum of 700 hours of carefully supervised clinical legal
service to our most vulnerable citizens and important public interest
causes.
The successful Advocate for Justice Scholarship recipient’s history
will reflect a deep commitment to justice and the public interest, as
well as academic excellence as evidenced by including grades,
publications, professional experience, academic recommendations and
LSAT scores. To apply for the scholarship, prospective students must
complete a standard application for admission AND an Advocate for
Justice Scholarship application, which consists of a simple form plus
a 500-750 word personal statement demonstrating that the applicant has
been an advocate for justice and describing how s/he will make use of
a UDC David A. Clarke School of Law degree in furtherance of the
interests of justice.
Joe Libertelli
UDC David A. Clarke School of Law
4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
JLibertelli@udc.edu
www.law.udc.edu
The UDC-DCSL Advocate for Justice Program
Information on the University of the District of Columbia David A.
Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL) Advocate for Justice program (AFJ) can
be found at
http://www.law.udc.edu/?page=AFJ The Advocate for Justice application,
which supplements the standard application for the J.D. program, can
be found at
http://www.law.udc.edu/?page=FinAidForms To sign up for the contact
list for the AFJ program, please go to
http://www.law.udc.edu/?page=AFJContact and fill out the form there.
To find out more about the School of Law generally, go to
www.law.udc.edu. There’s lots to read there, including many back
editions of the School of Law’s publication, The Advocate, which can
give the reader a real flavor for the kinds of work and activities
undertaken by students, staff, faculty and friends of the School of
Law.
The AFJ program offers full tuition three-year scholarships to up to
20 prospective students each year whose history reflects a deep
commitment to justice and the public interest, and who are also
excellent students in terms of more traditional indices of academic
prowess, including grades, advanced degrees, publications,
professional experience, and LSAT scores.
To sign up for the LSAT, please visit
http://www.lsac.org/LSAT/test-dates-deadlines.asp Since the Advocate
for Justice scholarships are awarded on a rolling basis, the earlier
you apply, the better. The School of Law application deadline is March
15. I encourage you to apply early, completing your application with
your LSAT results when they become available. My advice to those of
you who have not taken the LSAT is to, at minimum, purchase a
review/work book and to study it carefully. You should, at minimum,
completely understand the format of the test, the various types of
questions asked, and use the practice questions provided to
familiarize yourself to the extent possible.
About UDC-DCSL
Diversity: UDC-DCSL is one of the nation’s most diverse law schools
in terms of age and class as well as race. UDC-DCSL has many students
fresh out of college, but it also has many students who are preparing
for second or third careers. In 2008 Princeton Review ranked UDC-DCSL
3rd of 195 US law schools in terms of being most welcoming of older
students. It is also regularly in the top ten each year for most
welcoming of students of color. UDC-DCSL students have also been
ranked most progressive in the nation two years running. All FIVE
deans are women, as are half the faculty members. Half the faculty are
also people of color. Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender students
are most welcome. Despite its majority liberal/progressive leanings,
UDC-DCSL also takes pride in its conservative students, some of whom
are active politically and/or with our chapter of the Federalist
Society. Conservative students who are committed to justice add
another important dimension of diversity to the School of Law and are
also welcomed and valued.
Public Service Focus: UDC-DCSL is also, arguably, the American law
school most uniquely dedicated to the public interest. “Exhibit One”
is its clinical approach to legal education. At UDC-DCSL, clinical
work is not an “option” – ALL students provide a minimum of 700 hours
of legal work for poor people and the public interest. This clinical
service work, carried out under careful supervision, provides not only
an excellent, practical, legal education, preparing our graduates to
go out and function as attorneys immediately upon their graduation,
but also grounds students in reality. It provides a wonderful
political education, laying bare how the legal system works and
often does not work to address the legal problems of poor people and
public interest causes.
Job and Career Contacts: In addition to the Advocate for Justice, and
other scholarship and financial aid, UDC-DCSL also offers ALL its
first year students a $3,000 stipend to work in a public interest
legal position for a non-profit group, judge or government office.
Though most students do this fellowship work in Washington, DC, others
do it “back home” or wherever they might envision themselves
practicing law. The summer fellowships are not, however, their first
opportunity to go out and learn beyond the boundaries of the School of
Law itself, affording them the opportunity to make professional
contacts and to form personal relationships that can result in a “leg
up” when it comes to future summer and post-graduate positions. In
fact, during the first year, students are required to provide 40 hours
of law-related community service to a DC based group, judge or agency!
On top of this hands-on legal educational activism, UDC-DCSL’s
location in Washington, DC makes additional voluntary and for-credit
internships possible. Many students volunteer during the fall of their
second year and others earn academic credit through internships any
time after that semester.
The 40 hour community service requirement, the summer fellowship, and
the internship permit a student to develop contacts In combination
with our Legislation Clinic, which works with local and national
governmental legislative committees,
Other Financial Aid: Not all applicants will make the “cut” for a full
three-year scholarship, but in addition to the Advocate for Justice
Scholarship, the School of Law has other scholarship programs and more
than the usual amount of financial aid. Combined with the generally
inexpensive tuition $14,750 per full year for out-of-state students
and $7,350 for instate (residency can be achieved in one year!)
UDC-DCSL is still largely affordable. So even if one doesn’t qualify
for the “full-ride,” it would still be possible to get an excellent
legal education in a welcoming and supportive environment, at a very
reasonable price.
——————————–
One Current Student’s View:
“Also, for what it’s worth, some things that I (having been to another
law school) think are great about our school:
- The non-competitive atmosphere, comradery, etc. (which is, I think,
related to our size & mission)
- The ability to form relationships with professors (ditto)
- That everyone gets to participate in clinic (whether they like it or not!)
- The fact that many professors still practice (so that clients are
still real people to them)
- The number of students from working class backgrounds and/or
progressive students and/or students of color
- The school’s community-based mission and the fact that it’s actually
put into action
- The fact that I don’t have to say “I’ll only have to practice in a
firm for a decade (to pay off my loans) before I can start doing
public interest work” and then wonder if I’m going to have to spend
ten years after that simply working to undo the damage I just did.”
For more information:
Admissions nuts and bolts: Donald Pritchett: DPritchett@udc.edu
Manning
