Urah Goh, Intern

On Saturday March 9, 2024, UCLI held the first Pre-Law Fellowship Workshop at the Kirton McConkie offices in Salt Lake City. The 2024 UCLI & Kirton McConkie Pre-Law Fellowship is designed to diversify the field of law in Utah by providing Fellows with access to a paid LSAT course, mentorship, individual consultations with a law school application consultant, and reimbursements for expenses related to the LSAT and applying to law school. Fellows will participate in an enriching monthly workshop that focuses on law school and their future legal careers.  We were delighted to host our cohort of 10 highly accomplished Fellows at our Saturday workshop, where they were introduced to the program and able to meet some key individuals who helped make this Fellowship possible. 

After Fellowship program coordinators Kaitlyn Pieper and Jon Wayas gave an overview of the Fellowship and discussed UCLI’s mission of equity and inclusion, Kirton McConkie’s administrative coordinator Ken Olson gave a short presentation on the firm and their contributions to Utah’s legal profession. At Kirton McConkie, nearly half of all hired attorneys speak a second language and represent a wide range of clients. The Fellows’ monthly workshops are at a different venue each time, either at a Utah law firm or law school, exposing them to a variety of legal professionals and environments. If your firm would like to host these Fellows in 2024, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Following a get-to-know-you activity, we had the pleasure of hearing from leading LSAT instructor at Ace Test Preparation, Brent Dunn, who gave the Fellows an overview of the LSAT and included practical tips and tricks for approaching the exam. Lastly, Fellows got to have lunch with several of Kirton McConkie’s lawyers who gave helpful insights to law school and the life of an attorney. UCLI is elated to watch the Fellows flourish in their future endeavors through the Pre-Law Fellowship. 

We would like to thank Ken Olson and Kirton McConkie marketing director Brooke Wright for providing the venue, for attending the workshop, and for all of their contributions to this Fellowship. Thank you to Brent Dunn for presenting and offering his expertise on the LSAT. We also extend our gratitude to our sponsors Kirton McConkie, University of Utah Office of General Counsel, LSAC DEI Pipeline, Utah Bar Foundation, and Family Law Executive Committee Bar Section for their invaluable contributions to this program. 

UCLI and Women of the World’s legal workshop series includes six free workshops aimed to enhance attendees’ knowledge of the law and their rights. Just one more workshop is left in this series and will be held on July 20 from 5:30-6:30 pm, covering housing and rent discrimination. We highly encourage anyone interested in learning more about housing and rent law to attend. Our fifth workshop was held on July 13, 2023 at the Women of the World offices with Daniel Crook, seasoned attorney at Utah Legal Services and specialist in landlord/tenant law, as the presenter. Crook was able to give a thorough overview of general housing issues, while also answering specific questions and concerns from workshop attendees. He recommended reaching out to organizations that aim for equality and justice, just like Women of the World and UCLI, for advice, resources, or a community in the event that a difficult housing issue arises. The workshop atmosphere was very informative and interactive. Throughout the event, Crook stressed the importance of knowing your rights and understanding what is deemed most important in legal proceedings. When asked for his biggest piece of legal advice concerning housing, Crook firmly responded with:

“There are a few things that you should always always do. Pay your rent, get everything in writing, communicate with your landlord, don’t just ignore things, especially don’t ignore eviction notices. And don’t let your landlord lock you without a court order, that’s illegal.”

We would like to thank Daniel Crook for providing his legal expertise at our fifth workshop. We would also like to thank Ghinwa Hneide for facilitating this event and serving as an Arabic translator. Thank you to Alan Dalloul Dalul who served as a Spanish translator. Lastly, thank you to Prime Corn for providing fantastic catering for this event.

Join us for future sessions of the workshops, and spread the word to your friends with refugee and immigrant backgrounds; flier below.

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Join us for future sessions of the workshops, and spread the word to your friends with refugee and immigrant backgrounds; flier below.

Read More