Pathway to Law School Program Awarded for Closing Diversity Gap

Congratulations to the Fresno City College Pathway to Law School program, the recipient of two awards on Friday, February 19 recognizing the program's efforts to close the diversity gap in the law profession. The program received the Community College Diversity Champion Award from Cal LAW Inc., the statewide organization that was created to oversee and coordinate these pathway programs. FCC is also part of the Central Valley Regional Pathway to Law Pipeline that includes Bullard High School, FCC, Fresno State and San Joaquin College of Law. That collaboration was awarded the 2021 State Bar of California Education Pipeline Award. Fresno City College President Dr. Carole Goldsmith accepted the awards on behalf of the college at a virtual ceremony during the Sixth Annual Pathway to Law Summit.

The FCC Pathway to Law program assists a diverse population of students interested in pursuing a law-related career. Students get early exposure to the legal profession which includes service learning opportunities and start receiving assistance with and information about the law school admissions process.  They are provided individualized counseling services. Students who take all the required courses at FCC and maintain the minimum required GPA and who decide to go onto law school after receiving their undergraduate degree, get special admissions consideration and application fees waived at participating law schools. 

Kau Vue, FCC political science instructor and Pathway to Law faculty champion, says that the program is helping under-served populations get more exposure to law school.

“The California Bar is only 20% minority lawyers whereas the general population is made up of at least 60% of persons from racial-ethnic minority groups,” Vue said.  “This means that representation has not been increasing at a pace that is rapid enough to reflect the general population.  FCC is a Cal LAW Inc., partner and committed to helping close this gap. Our collaborative efforts with Bullard High School, Clovis Community College, Fresno State, and San Joaquin College of Law along with legal professionals in the field through the formation of a regional advisory council and a regional law pathway is an example of our commitment to this goal,” she added. 

Vue says that she and counseling champion Lucely Rosas are very proud to be recognized for their efforts in helping to diversify the legal field.  She just recently began serving as the faculty champion in the fall and credits the hard work of former faculty champion Matt Espinoza Watson, retired Social Sciences dean, Dr. Peg Mericle and Logan Tennerelli, dean at San Joaquin College of Law, who was formerly the FCC Law Pathways counseling champion, for initiating the program.

Currently, there are 105 students in the Law Pathway at Fresno City College.