04/17/08 City College of New York is home to 14,000 students and resides in Harlem, New York. Law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom hopes to give minority students a better chance at attending law schools and attaining jobs in the legal field. How? By instituting an honors program in legal studies at City College of New York, a Harlem school with 14,000 students. The legal studies program will begin by recruiting freshmen and sophomores and eventually will only involve 100 juniors and seniors. The program will last two years and consist of courses and seminars that will prepare the students for law school. Other benefits of the legal studies program include financial aid, LSAT preparation, counseling, and mentoring by the attorneys at Skadden. Students attending the program also will be given opportunities to complete paid summer internships. And for out-of-town students, dorm rooms will be available. Skadden's desire to help stems from the small percentage of minorities working in law firms. According to the US Census Bureau, only 11% of the nation's 1 million attorneys are minorities. According to the firm's senior partner, Joseph H. Flom, "the main thing is to create a pipeline for minorities available for law firms to hire." Flom, who himself was helped when he was a struggling student at City College, said, "They gave me my chance. So why shouldn't other people have a chance?" The legal studies program, to City College's president, Gregory H. Williams, is something that matches the school's tradition. The program not only gives students "access to the American dream but also [brings] their talents to every area of American society." "It's all a work in progress," said Flom. "We're going to do whatever it takes."

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