Students at CLEO Boot Camp Debate 'Seinfeld' Hypothetical
Forty-four minority students attending a law school boot camp hosted by the Council on Legal Education Opportunity got a quick introduction to legal debate recently, courtesy of the television show Seinfeld.
The Daily Journal (sub. req.) summarizes the legal issue presented by the episode this way: Is a bowl of soup a meal? If so, is it sufficient payment for an Armani suit?
The students are attending the six-week prelaw summer program at Thomas Jefferson law school in San Diego. Only one other school—the University of Denver—is hosting a CLEO boot camp.
Students pay $200 to attend. After they complete their coursework they are eligible to apply for Thurgood Marshall law school fellowships, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, the story says. Students attending the program at the California school ranged from recent college grads to a program analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency to a pharmaceutical company sales representative.
M. Elizabeth Kransberger, an assistant dean at Thomas Jefferson, said the school began hosting a summer CLEO program in 2006 that proved to be successful.
“We had students go to Cornell, Harvard and Duke, and many ended up members of the law review,” Kransberger told the Daily Journal. “If you can perform in CLEO under the pressure of being in an academic boot camp, you can absolutely be successful in law school. It’s a marvelous proving ground.”
CLEO is a nonprofit project of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education.
