INSIDE SCOOP: Filmore Thomas IV ’26 shares some insights at the Preparing for Law School project launch event as Nina Zhang ’25 (center) and UC Davis Law student Harman Gakhal listen in. Photo by Laurie Frasier

It didn’t look like a stereotypical image of potential law school applicants — which was exactly the point.

Years in the making, the Preparing for Law School project held a recent launch event at UC Berkeley Law with dozens of prospective law students from underrepresented backgrounds in attendance. Admissions leaders from three area law schools explained the application process, current law students shared tips on how to navigate the environment, and the night ended with a networking mixer.

While 50% of UC Berkeley Law’s first-year class identify as students of color, a 2024 national survey conducted by the American Bar Association showed that 78% of practicing attorneys are white. This new initiative aims to help change that.

“We identified a problem with access to law school resources and wanted to demystify the process and create a more equitable pathway to the legal profession,” says Kristin Theis-Alvarez, UC Berkeley Law’s chief administrative officer and senior assistant dean — and former dean of admissions — who has played a key role in driving the project.

It provides a free, asynchronous, self-paced, multimedia web-based program intended to reach law school candidates with limited access to quality advising resources. The modules include downloadable tools, advice on law school finances, and professional guidance through videos, podcasts, reading materials, and reflection assignments.

They shed light on law school’s first-year curriculum, academic support, technology, case reading, stress management, opportunities for experience outside of class, and the courts system. UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky also leads a mock Constitutional Law class on the limits of presidential powers.

American Bar Association National Population Survey

“Law school — how do I apply, what will I learn, and is it really what I want? — can be such a black box for folks without lawyers in their worlds,” says Professor Kristen Holmquist, closely involved in developing the project. “I’m incredibly proud of the work Berkeley Law has done to pull back the curtain a bit, to give applicants the kind of information they need to succeed. Whether these students matriculate with us, go on to law school elsewhere, or even decide not to go to law school at all, they’ll be better positioned to make good decisions for themselves.”

Launch event host Bria Watson, UC Berkeley Law’s associate director of J.D. admissions for outreach and recruitment, told the gathering that the project aims to help people from underrepresented groups “in understanding the application process, how to apply strategically, how to make law school affordable, and how lawyers who came from those backgrounds are using their law degrees to make change across many fields.”

More than 175 people have registered for the program.

The student panel discussed coming to law school from various backgrounds — Navy service, plant biology, software engineering, firefighting — and how law school provides many outlets to gain vital experience and leadership opportunities.

“You’ll be able to make tangible change in people’s lives even before graduating,” said Filmore Thomas IV ’26.

Classmate Abby Neal noted, “You increasingly realize what you can do and what you’re capable of, and you realize that those impostor syndrome voices don’t need to be listened to.” — Andrew Cohen