NEW ORLEANS (Nov. 30, 2018) – Twenty students – including 13 from Dillard – have been selected to participate in the Pre-Law LEAD program for 2019, according to Adria N. Kimbrough, pre-law adviser for the DU Center for Law and Public Interest.
Five are from Xavier University, and two are from Southern University, New Orleans. All are new and were selected from among 30 applicants Oct. 31, Kimbrough said.
Dillard students include Roemell Ayro, Amira Bell-Jetton, Leah Erby, Toenisha Hudson, Bria Jones, Erienne Lewis, Jamika Mack, Tyson Moss, Sydney Pelichet, Allison Thomas, Essence Thomas, Naomi Thomas and Ramzee McGee-Williams.
The five from Xavier are Timothy Ambrose Jr., Kayla Bell, Bria Black, Ayanna Brown and Victor Nonato.
The two from SUNO include Velencia Knox and Kayla Neville.
The LEAD program, which stands for Legal Education Advancing Diversity, was started last year as a comprehensive LSAT prep program for students attending the three historically black colleges in New Orleans, including Dillard, to help participants get into law school and thrive there.
Kimbrough said her team aims produce the nation’s next generation of diverse attorneys who will change the legal profession for the better.
The program, funded through a grant from AccessLex Institute Legal Education Diversity Pipeline, has four components to maximize the students’ knowledge and experience throughout the year-long commitment. Each is matched with a judge or attorney mentor who will support and encourage them through LSAT preparation and beyond, law school admissions support and one-on-one advising.
Students will take the law school admissions test the first week of the program, and they will take the LSAT towards the end of the program in the final week. Kimbrough said the program helps. For example, 88 percent of students last year saw an 11-point jump in their scores, and four students jumped 20 points or more.
“LSAT preparation is the major key to the program,” according to Kimbrough, a 2000 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law who formerly worked as associate general counsel for the University of Arkansas System and the Kullman Firm.