There is no one way to start a Pathway Program. Each institution will need to assess the initial steps that are most suited for its context and community. The following, however, is a typical “to do” list that will be relevant to most law schools in getting program planning started.
1. Confirm Support for the Program:
- Law Schools: Ensure backing from administration, admissions, faculty, alumni, and law students (who can act as mentors).
- Undergraduate Schools: Seek support from the Board of Trustees, administration, Legal Studies Programs, and feeder programs including leadership, academic counselors, teaching staff, and pre-law students.
- Legal Profession: Engage with attorneys, law firms, corporations, government agencies, local and affinity bar associations, judges, and other legal entities.
- Undergraduate Pre-Law Students: Assess interest and involvement levels.
2. Confirm Pathway Partners and Affiliate Programs:
- Law School: Oversee primary program administration.
- Undergraduate School(s): Serve as key partners and course locations; manage operational leadership and integrate courses into minors like Legal Studies, Criminal Justice, Civic Leadership, and Public Policy.
- Law School e-Learning Design Services: Collaborate on course creation and teaching, providing online format/technology support.
- Existing Programs: Identify current programs within the university system.
- Community Partners: For standalone programs, develop partnerships with community entities.
3. Create a Pathway Leadership Team:
- Law School: Appoint a Dean for Diversity & Inclusion or a comparable position to manage administration and oversight.
- Undergraduate: Appoint a professor from the School of Liberal Arts or similar, responsible for teaching, mentorship, and event coordination.
- Principal Investigators: Oversee the project at both law school and undergraduate levels.
4. Establish a Pathway Advisory Board:
- Board Responsibilities: Meet biannually or more with program leadership, review reports, offer feedback, support mentor contacts, participate in events, and assist in developing mentorship networks and community support.
- Membership Composition: Include law school and undergrad alumni, local bar association members, affinity bar members, judges, corporate counsels, government agency counsels, faculty, career/pre-law advisors, admissions officers/staff, community members, and other representatives from each program stage.
- Community Advisory Partners: Consider forming and appointing these partners.
5. Develop a Pathway Timeline:
- Timeline Creation: Outline substantial growth steps and execution periods for the Pathway Program. Program growth should be seen as a cycle of advancement, with some steps recurring and others being one-time efforts. Refer to Appendix A for a sample Summary Timeline from conception through execution.
6. Promoting the Program to Students
For your program to succeed, you will need strong interest and participation from the undergraduate students on the identified campus. The following information outlines outreach and marketing approaches to recruit motivated and qualified students to apply to the program, inspire them to remain engaged in the program, and encourage them to contribute back to the program after graduating.
- Messaging
You should consider how to promote the program, specifically focusing on the content of your marketing and messaging. You may want to highlight the benefits offered through the program like financial aid and academic counseling, mentorship from legal professionals, legal internships, and networking opportunities. Your marketing will be more effective if you concentrate on exclusive and tangible benefits such as waivers for law school application fees and priority for important classes. You could also showcase the various law schools that are supporting the program, which will impress upon the students that participation in the program will increase their chances of being admitted into a law school. Finally, testimonials from students who are currently in law school, as well as recent alumni, regarding their decision to become an attorney will help to motivate potential student participants.
- Outreach
You should create an outreach plan so that information about the pathway program reaches the target audience. Below are a couple of ways to make sure that interested and eligible students learn about the program. - Classes
Making presentations to law-related classes is an efficient and convenient way to market your pathway program to students who are naturally inclined to apply to the program. You could speak to the class, circulate pamphlets, and/or email students. - Student Organizations
Another effective way to disseminate information about the program is through student organizations on campus, especially through any Pre-Law Clubs. Through these organizations, you can speak to students and share information about the program. - Social Media
You should also consider marketing the program on social media. To reach today’s students, you could advertise about the pathway program on TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. - Events
You could market the pathway program by organizing and hosting an orientation event to provide an opportunity for students to learn more about the legal field and the pathway program. It should include attorneys, judges, law students and educators who can discuss the requirements to get accepted into law school, the law school experience, and careers in the legal field. - Follow Through
Finally, you should follow up with the students with whom you interact through your marketing efforts. The subsequent conversations, emails, or direct messages may help to resolve student questions or concerns, remind them of application deadlines, and increase their excitement for the program. - Multiple Contacts
You should contact on multiple occasions a student who has shown initial interest in the pathway program. In the marketing field, there is a concept called the “rule of seven”, which says that prospective buyers need to hear or see the marketing message at least seven times before they will buy a product. Similarly, the more times a student hears, sees, or reads about the pathway program the more likely that student will commit to participating in the program. You should consider contacting the student by telephone, text message, and email.
7. Promoting the Program to the Public
To sustain and grow the program, you will need community support and funding from outside sources. The excitement and enthusiasm for the concept will provide enough energy to start the program. But to seek and obtain ongoing funding, you will need to document results in the form of assessment of student progress, data of student success, and other materials to document the success of the program and to demonstrate the positive impact of the program. Here are some ideas to consider.
- Testimonials:
From student participants: Statements of success from students, professors, and members of the legal community are highly valued. Everyone wants to hear from students who participated in the program about the benefits they gained. You should be able to show the value of each aspect of your program.
From professors and administrators: People also like to hear the development of the students from the viewpoint of the professors and administrators. These individuals are the constant factor that can compare progress over time. Statements about student progress before the program was implemented and after the program was started are a good way to document the value of the program. These commenters can include educators from the four-year college and even law school.
From participants who become legal professionals: People like to hear from the experts in the field. In this case, these people would be lawyers and judges. Obviously, this will require that the program exist for a few years before your students make it through to this stage.
- Compiling Data:
Also, accumulating data and generating reports will support the program. The data should not be limited to the quantitative goal of how many students graduated from law school and became attorneys. There are so many touch points along the path to document student successes, such as tangible indices of success, i.e., grades, completion and graduation rates, admission to four-year colleges and law schools, subsequent graduation from these schools, passing the bar exam, and becoming a licensed attorney.
There are also intangible indices that are a little more challenging to measure, such as confidence, self-esteem, optimism in the future, acquisition of skills, such as time management, stress management, studying strategies, reading comprehension, public speaking, comfort navigating a profession and networking.
- Promotion:
Be sure to share your successes with your stakeholders periodically. The successes highlighted in your messages will increase as your program grows. You might begin with email messages, then graduate to newsletters, and maybe celebrate in annual gatherings. Perhaps you can get your students involved in a project. They can share their accomplishments and take pride in noting positive reactions from stakeholders.
All the good news needs to be shared with your stakeholders, especially those outside of your college. While “no news is good news” works in some situations, “out of sight, out of mind” is more apt when it comes to your program. Your partners, both funders and volunteers, appreciate learning about your program. They want to know that they have made a difference in your students’ future education and career path. It is also important to project your program in a positive and forward-moving light.