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Diving into Diversity Statements: Highlights from the 4th UCLI Pre-Law Fellowship Workshop

Expert Guidance and Mentorship for Law School Applications

Our fourth UCLI & Kirton McConkie Pre-Law Fellowship Workshop, held on Saturday, June 1st, was a unique experience! We were hosted by the Disability Law Center in the And Justice for All building in downtown Salt Lake City, providing an excellent venue and lunch for everyone in attendance. Special recognition goes to Mary Anne Davies, the Supervising Attorney at the Disability Law Center, for coordinating the event and taking time out of her weekend to join us.

We kicked off with a fun get-to-know-you activity, followed by a special guest, Paula Gluzman, a consultant and the director of Diversity & Inclusion at Spivey Consulting Group. The workshop delved into the intricacies of diversity and personal statements for law school applications, offering our Fellows a one-of-a-kind opportunity to gain detailed guidance on these crucial components. The diversity statement, a key element of the law school application, has often been misunderstood. However, its significance was amplified in June 2023 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions that altered race-conscious admissions policies. This prompted law schools to reevaluate how they address diversity in their applications, making our workshop’s focus on this topic particularly timely and relevant. As a result, diversity statements now vary widely from school to school. Thus, we are incredibly grateful to Paula for clarifying this evolving process and guiding each of our Fellows through the challenging task of writing these essential parts of their law school applications.

After receiving personalized feedback, the Fellows worked with mentors to apply their learning to their writing. Our mentors included Briggs Matheson from the US Attorney’s Office, Juliana Yee from Munger, Tolles & Olson, Zachary Scott Roemer from Kirkland & Ellis, Justin Ly from  Keller Preece, and Melinda Bowen from Spencer Fane. We are deeply grateful to the attorneys who generously volunteered their time to join our workshop last week, demonstrating their commitment to improving our community. The Fellows’ monthly seminars, held at different venues each time, offer a unique opportunity to interact with a variety of legal professionals and environments. If your firm is interested in hosting Fellowship meetings in the future, we would be thrilled to hear from you!

We extend our immense thanks to Paula Gluzman and the attorneys for their contributions to the 2024 Pre-Law Fellows. We also sincerely appreciate the support from our program sponsors, Kirton McConkie, the University of Utah Office of General Counsel, LSAC DEI Pipeline, Utah Bar Foundation, and the Family Law Executive Committee Bar Section, for making this event possible.

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