Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, Jun. 30, 2011
MBA Tiered Community Mentoring program images.
MBA Tiered Community Mentoring Program to be honored by American Bar Association
The Massachusetts Bar Association's Tiered Community Mentoring
Program will be honored with the 2011 ABA Partnership Award from
the American Bar Association at an Aug. 5 awards luncheon held at
the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, Canada. The program was
selected because of its commitment to diversity.
"The MBA is thrilled to be selected for such a prestigious honor
that recognizes this unique program," MBA President Denise
Squillante said. "Tiered Community Mentoring aims to build a more
diverse legal profession by empowering young people to consider
careers in the law."
The program -- a collaboration among the MBA, Suffolk University
Law School, Boston University Law School, Roxbury Community
College, UMASS Boston and New Mission High School -- aims to reach
urban high school students by building a diverse mentoring network.
The program matches tiered groups, comprised of a high school
student, an undergraduate student, a law student and an
attorney.
The program began in October 2009 and was the brainchild of
Norfolk and Family Court First Justice Angela M. Ordoñez, who said
the innovative mentoring structure creates opportunities that would
not otherwise exist.
"Many students write themselves out of a career in law because
they have never met a lawyer," Ordoñez said. "This program not only
acquaints students with lawyers, but it provides mentor
relationships that open up the doors of possibility. Once these
students learn the details of careers in the law, it becomes an
attainable goal."
The ABA Partnership Awards Program salutes bar association
projects that seek to increase the participation and advancement of
lawyers of color as well as other underrepresented
constituents-attorneys with disabilities, women attorneys and those
who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered-and to attract
students from these groups to the legal profession.
The MBA is one of three award honorees. The other recipients
are the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the Mecklenburg County
Bar Association.