Updated at 2:36 a.m., Saturday, June 23, 2007
Experts hope to build student interest in law careers
Advertiser Staff
HONOLULU – The William S. Richardson School of Law, in partnership with the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, will hold a summit for educators, the bench and the bar for a project called "Wingspread" on June 25-26, 2007, at the UH Manoa law school.This two-day summit will bring together outreach programs and community educators across the curriculum to coordinate and enhance efforts in creating a pipeline of programs to equip Hawai'i's students to seek higher education and professional careers in law and in the leadership of the nation.
The summit will include tours of several outreach sites and a visioning workshop day to map goals and articulate the steps to connecting to the pipeline.
Wingspread is a national consortium of law school-centered teams of educators, the bench and the bar, who are committed to working across the educational continuum to improve the participation, persistence, and success of diverse students in high school and college.
The goal is to enhance these students' aspirations and capacity to move into positions in the legal profession and in the leadership of the nation. The Wingspread project envisions a pipeline of multilevel approaches to provide information and mentoring to students. As students flow through the pipeline of programs, they learn to think positively of themselves, build self-esteem, and are encouraged to seek higher education in law.
Several law professionals and experts from across the nation will serve as resources at the summit as the participants map out the strategy for Hawai'i. Amongst them are Louise Dempsey, assistant dean for external affairs at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, and board member for the Cleveland Municipal School District; Brett Scharffs, professor of law at the Brigham Young University Law School; and members of the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law's pipeline project, "Pacific Pathways," including Judge Morrison England, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California; Torie Flournoy, principal of Sacramento's Hagginwood Elementary School; Sarah Redfield, professor of law at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire; and McGeorge School of Law Dean Elizabeth Parker.
