2 law firms promise jobs to underserved students before they enter law school; tuition is free
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Two Ohio law firms will offer associate positions to two students before they even enroll in law school as part of a diversity program that pays the students’ tuition and living expenses.
Thompson Hine and Taft Stettinius & Hollister are participating in the Flyer Legal Promise Program with the University of Dayton School of Law, according to Reuters, the Dayton Daily News and a press release.
The students will receive full law school tuition—paid by the university—and a $15,000 annual stipend for living expenses, two-thirds of which is covered by the law firms. Thompson Hine and Taft Stettinius & Hollister will provide a summer associate position and a job after law school.
“Rather than wait for diverse talent to apply to law school and then later to elite law firms, the Flyer Legal Promise Program proactively seeks, recruits and invests in academically talented undergraduates with capacity to excel in the legal profession,” said Andrew Strauss, dean of the University of Dayton School of Law, in the press release.
“It’s the Moneyball of legal education,” Strauss told Reuters. “We’re going back in and we’re trying to figure out who has that raw talent—before they may even know themselves that they want to apply.”
Most students in the program will be recruited from the University of Dayton’s Flyer Promise Program, which provides undergraduate funding and mentoring to underrepresented and underserved students coming from partner high schools. Students not in the undergraduate program can be proposed by the University of Dayton or law school admission offices.
