Interview by Michael Fisch
Law community
The numbers around diversity in the legal profession are sobering. According to recent statistics from the National Association for Law Placement, Black men fill just 2% of law firms’ associate positions, and Black women only 3%. The percentages of Asian, Black, and Hispanic lawyers serving as partners are equally concerning.
Suffolk Law is doing its part to try to change this troubling status quo, says Cherina Wright JD/MBA’17, the Law School’s assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “I see an intensity and intentionality about playing an active role in the reckoning on racial equity,” Wright says. “The school is taking concrete steps.”
Among those steps are two scholarships, an alternative admissions program, and a pipeline program for underrepresented students. We asked Wright, a Suffolk Law alum, to bring us up to date on the school’s efforts.
Cherina Wright JD/MBA'17, assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion
We now offer a guaranteed full-tuition scholarship for graduates of 91 historically Black colleges and universities across the country. We also launched a separate $20,000 scholarship for first-generation college students from 25 schools in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York.
If you total up the debt burden for law school, it’s disproportionately borne by students of color and first-generation college students. The scholarship support throughout law school reduces the debt burden and, in many cases, makes a law degree possible.
Tell us about Suffolk Law’s new scholarship programs.
Our Legal Education Alternative Admissions Program (LEAAP) was created to provide a path to law school for people whose applications are strong except for their standardized test scores. We know that some students with low scores—particularly those from groups that are historically underrepresented in law school and in the legal profession—defy the odds. Suffolk Law launched LEAAP to provide an alternate method for assessing applicants’ ability to succeed in law school and on the bar exam. If they do well in LEAAP, they’re admitted to the Law School.
What is the alternative admissions program?
For two weeks in the summer, we’ll bring in local college students for legal writing and law classes, mentoring with alumni and students, and workshops with our admissions team. We hope they will build a community here and want to join us for law school, but no matter where they end up, we want them to have insights into getting into and succeeding in law school.
Suffolk Law has had diversity mentorship and enrichment programs for a long time, and they are now under one umbrella: Progress to Success. It offers a large and growing range of programs, including peer mentorship, professional development and networking opportunities, exam and bar prep sessions, community workshops, and cultural affinity group programs.
Last summer, we kicked off the Progress to Success Academy, a one-week program of law classes and community building held the week before new-student orientation. The earlier our new students learn how to tackle law school, the better. As a first-generation law student, I can attest to the rockiness of the road as you try to figure it out.
We’ve also built bias awareness and cultural competency training into orientation so that our new students are familiar with some of the basics. The Suffolk community is taking steps to increase DEI, including new hiring practices, bias and cultural competency training for faculty and staff, and efforts to augment the existing curriculum. The number of courses at the intersection of DEI and the law has grown quickly.
We still have work to do to ensure that the profession reflects the backgrounds and experiences of the clients we ultimately serve, but it’s exciting to see Suffolk Law playing its part.
Images by Michael J. Clarke
How will the school help ensure that students from underrepresented communities finish their JDs?
A new pipeline program will bring college juniors and seniors from underrepresented communities into Suffolk Law for training. What will they do here?
Actions Speak Louder
DIVERSITY IN HIRING
Making the Law School faculty and staff more diverse by changing our hiring practices—minimizing the potential influence of implicit biases and maximizing our efforts to attract and recruit diverse candidates.
AFFINITY STUDENT GROUPS
Celebrating a more inclusive community with over a dozen affinity groups that support students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds through multiple programs: Diversity Week, diversity receptions, anti-racism panels, and an alumni speaker series.
RAISING AWARENESS
Expanding our existing anti-racism, implicit bias, and LGBTQ+ inclusion orientation trainings for new law students and the entire Suffolk community.
CLASSES FROM DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES
Expanding our curriculum with new courses that examine diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and the law’s relation to systemic injustice and inequality; enhancing our existing areas of focus in Diversity and Social Justice and Civil Rights & Human Rights Law.
WELCOMING FIRST-GEN STUDENTS
Supporting first-generation students and students from underrepresented backgrounds through our First-Generation Scholarship Program and the First-Gen Law Students organization.
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT
The Suffolk University Black Alumni Network (SUBAN) serves current and future Black alumni through mentoring, philanthropy, volunteerism, and events. The SUBAN Scholarship Fund supports Suffolk students with a demonstrated interest in serving underrepresented communities.
HBCU Scholarship Program
Creating a full-tuition scholarship for graduates of 91 historically Black colleges and universities across the country.
PEER MENTORS
Growing Progress to Success, our foundational DEI program, by including more students and new initiatives. Also offering more safe social spaces, professional development workshops, and academic enrichment through the Student Bar Association’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
DIVERSITY FROM THE TOP
More than 1/3 of Suffolk Law’s 11 deans are people of color and more than 60% are women. Suffolk Law elected its second Black female Student Bar Association president in 2020, and the current president is a Black male. The assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion helps our community implement DEI initiatives throughout the Law School.
Return to Table of Contents
Law community
Interview by Michael Fisch
The numbers around diversity in the legal profession are sobering. According to recent statistics from the National Association for Law Placement, Black men fill just 2% of law firms’ associate positions, and Black women only 3%. The percentages of Asian, Black, and Hispanic lawyers serving as partners are equally concerning.
Suffolk Law is doing its part to try to change this troubling status quo, says Cherina Wright JD/MBA’17, the Law School’s assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “I see an intensity and intentionality about playing an active role in the reckoning on racial equity,” Wright says. “The school is taking concrete steps.”
Among those steps are two scholarships, an alternative admissions program, and a pipeline program for underrepresented students. We asked Wright, a Suffolk Law alum, to bring us up to date on the school’s efforts.
We now offer a guaranteed full-tuition scholarship for graduates of 91 historically Black colleges and universities across the country. We also launched a separate $20,000 scholarship for first-generation college students from 25 schools in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York.
If you total up the debt burden for law school, it’s disproportionately borne by students of color and first-generation college students. These scholarships reduce the debt burden and, in many cases, make a law degree possible. It’s exciting to be able to open the door to a law school education in such a substantive way and provide that level of support throughout law school.
Tell us about Suffolk Law’s new scholarship programs.
Our Legal Education Alternative Admissions Program (LEAAP) was created to provide a path to law school for people whose applications are strong except for their standardized test scores. We know that some students with low scores—particularly those from groups that are historically underrepresented in law school and in the legal profession—defy the odds. Suffolk Law launched LEAAP to provide an alternate method for assessing applicants’ ability to succeed in law school and on the bar exam. If they do well in LEAAP, they’re admitted to the Law School.
What is the alternative admissions program?
For two weeks in the summer, we’ll bring in local college students for legal writing and doctrinal law classes, mentoring with alumni and current students, and application prep workshops with our admissions team. We hope they will build a community here and want to join us for law school, but no matter where they end up, we want them to have fresh insight into getting into and succeeding in law school.
Suffolk Law has had diversity mentorship and enrichment programs for a long time, and they are now under one umbrella: Progress to Success. It offers a large and growing range of programs, including peer mentorship, professional development and networking opportunities, exam and bar prep sessions, community workshops, and cultural affinity group programs.
Last summer, we kicked off the Progress to Success Academy, a one-week program of law classes and community building held the week before new-student orientation. The earlier our new students start learning about how to tackle law school, the better. As a first-generation law student myself, I can attest to the rockiness of the road as you try to figure out legal thinking and writing, the classroom dynamic, personal travails. It helps to have a community of people who have been through similar situations and can offer advice.
We’ve also built bias awareness and cultural competency training into our new student orientation so that all of our new students are familiar with some of the basics in these areas. The larger Suffolk community is taking steps to increase DEI, including new hiring practices, bias and cultural competency training for faculty and staff, and ongoing efforts to augment the existing curriculum and the school’s learning goals. The number of courses at the intersection of DEI and the law has grown quickly and is another way we are making progress.
We still have work to do if we want to ensure that the legal profession reflects the backgrounds and experiences of the clients we ultimately serve, but it’s exciting to see Suffolk Law playing its part.
Images by Michael J. Clarke
How will the school help ensure that students from underrepresented communities finish their JDs?
A new pipeline program will bring college juniors and seniors from underrepresented communities into Suffolk Law for training. What will they do here?
Return to Table of Contents
Cherina Wright JD/MBA'17, assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion
Actions Speak Louder
DIVERSITY IN HIRING
Making the Law School faculty and staff more diverse by changing our hiring practices—minimizing the potential influence of implicit biases and maximizing our efforts to attract and recruit diverse candidates.
AFFINITY STUDENT GROUPS
Celebrating a more inclusive community with over a dozen affinity groups that support students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds through multiple programs: Diversity Week, diversity receptions, anti-racism panels, and an alumni speaker series.
RAISING AWARENESS
Expanding our existing anti-racism, implicit bias, and LGBTQ+ inclusion orientation trainings for new law students and the entire Suffolk community.
CLASSES FROM DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES
Expanding our curriculum with new courses that examine diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and the law’s relation to systemic injustice and inequality; enhancing our existing areas of focus in Diversity and Social Justice and Civil Rights & Human Rights Law.
WELCOMING FIRST-GEN STUDENTS
Supporting first-generation students and students from underrepresented backgrounds through our First-Generation Scholarship Program and the First-Gen Law Students organization.
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT
The Suffolk University Black Alumni Network (SUBAN) serves current and future Black alumni through mentoring, philanthropy, volunteerism, and events. The SUBAN Scholarship Fund supports Suffolk students with a demonstrated interest in serving underrepresented communities.
HBCU Scholarship Program
Creating a full-tuition scholarship for graduates of 91 historically Black colleges and universities across the country.
PEER MENTORS
Growing Progress to Success, our foundational DEI program, by including more students and new initiatives. Also offering more safe social spaces, professional development workshops, and academic enrichment through the Student Bar Association’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
RAISING AWARENESS
Expanding our existing antiracism, implicit bias, and LGBTQ+ inclusion orientation trainings for new law students and the entire Suffolk community.
DIVERSITY FROM THE TOP
Valuing diverse leadership, more than 1/3 of our 11 deans are people of color and more than 60% are women. Two of the last three students elected to serve as president of the Student Bar Associations have been Black. The Assistant Dean of of DEI helps our community implement DEI initiatives throughout the Law School.
HBCU SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Creating a full-tuition scholarship for graduates of 91 historically Black colleges and universities across the country.
WELCOMING FIRST-GEN STUDENTS
Supporting first-generation students and students from underrepresented backgrounds through our FirstGeneration Scholarship Program and the First-Gen Law Students organization.
CLASSES FROM DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES
Expanding our curriculum with new courses that examine diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and the law’s relation to systemic injustice and inequality; enhancing our existing areas of focus in Diversity and Social Justice and Civil Rights & Human Rights Law.
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT
Serving current and future Black alumni through the Suffolk University Black Alumni Network’s (SUBAN) mentoring, philanthropy, volunteerism, and events. The SUBAN Scholarship Fund supports students with a demonstrated interest in serving underrepresented communities.
DIVERSITY IN HIRING
Making the Law School faculty and staff more diverse by improving our hiring practices—minimizing the potential influence of implicit biases and maximizing our efforts to attract and recruit diverse candidates.
AFFINITY STUDENT GROUPS
Celebrating a more inclusive community with over a dozen affinity groups that support students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds through multiple programs: Diversity Week, diversity receptions, anti-racism panels, and an alumni speaker series.
AFFINITY STUDENT GROUPS
Celebrating a more inclusive community with over a dozen affinity groups that support students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds through multiple programs: Diversity Week, diversity receptions, anti-racism panels, and an alumni speaker series.
PEER MENTORS
Growing Progress to Success, our foundational DEI program, by including more students and new initiatives. Also offering more safe social spaces, professional development workshops, and academic enrichment through the Student Bar Association’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Suffolk Law