"Discover Law '10 @ UB Law" Hopes to Attract Talented, Aspiring Students of Color

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo Law School and the Minority Bar Association of Western New York will hold their annual Minority High School Student Visitation Program "Discover Law '10 @ UB Law" from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 5 in John Lord O'Brian Hall on the UB North Campus.

This year's program will include a mock class taught by UB Law School Professor Charles Ewing, a law student panel made up of current students, an SAT overview with Carl Nuessle from the Kaplan Center, and lunchtime speaker Tasha Moore, regional director in the state's Division of Human Rights.

More than 60 students are expected to attend the event. City Honors, Bennett, Burgard and the Math Science Technology Academy are among the high schools scheduled to participate.

In 2001, U.S. News and World Report magazine reported that only 7 percent of law students in the U.S. are African-American and only 6 percent are Hispanic. Another study found that no single minority group accounts for more than 4 percent of America's lawyers. These percentages remain largely the same nine years later, according to UB Law School officials.

The UB event is an attempt to increase those percentages and help promising minorities pursue a law career.

"Our goal is to expose the students to the study of law and to encourage them to consider becoming a lawyer," says Lillie V. Wiley-Upshaw, vice dean for admissions and financial aid in the UB Law School. "Sometimes, all it takes is one encouraging word to motivate a student to excel."

The event is part of an ongoing effort involving the Buffalo Public Schools, the Minority Bar of Western New York Recruitment and Retention Task Force and the UB Law School. The event is co-sponsored by the Law School Admission Council and is part of a larger national effort to increase minority enrollment in the nation's law schools.

For further information, contact Wiley-Upshaw at 716-645-2907 or Charles Anzalone, UB Office of Communications at 716-645-4600.