Pathway to Law School Certificate of Achievement

Any student with a goal to enter law school should complete the Pathway to Law School program. This program is recognized as part of the California State Bar and California Community College State Chancellor’s Office initiative “Pathway to Law School.” The Pathway to Law School program aims to establish a pipeline of diverse students from Southwestern College to four-year universities and law schools into law or law-related careers so that the legal profession reflects the diverse population of the State of California. In building a diverse pipeline, we strive to open the doors of law and law-related careers to underrepresented members of the legal profession. Building a diverse pipeline into the law will lead to a more diverse and representative workforce - not only in law, but in all segments of society where lawyers and law-related careers contribute to the workforce.

Approximately 50-100 students will participate in the program annually with a forecast of 25-30 students earning the certificate annually. 

In 2017, Southwestern College joined the California State Bar Association’s Community Colleges Pathway to Law School initiative, a collaborative effort between the bar association and 29 community colleges and six law schools, designed to help diversify the legal profession and smooth the path to law school for underrepresented students. The Diversity in Prosecutors’ Offices: Views from the Front Line, A Report of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (March 2016), highlights the current state of demographics in five California district attorneys’ offices, which is not reflective of the demographics for the general population. The same report also identified the pipeline as a contributor to the lack of diversity among prosecutors’ offices in California. “Because relatively few minorities graduate from law school and pass the state bar, respondents argued that their offices had a disproportionately low number of minority candidates from which to select.”

Law School Pathway students will receive transcript designation upon program completion thereby making them eligible to receive preferred consideration for admission, student services, and academic support at partner Pathway to Law School universities and law schools. The Community Colleges Pathway to Law School initiative requires students to complete courses based on a defined set of “success factors” that help make effective lawyers. Students in the program receive early exposure to the law school experience, individual advisement and mentoring from law school advisors, financial aid counseling, LSAT preparation and waived application fees for admission to the participating law schools.

AJ 252  Constitutional Law 3 

COMM 160  Argumentation and Debate 3 

PD 100  Lifelong Success 3 

PHIL 103  Logic and Critical Thinking 3 

Select One Course:

ENGL 115  College Composition: Reading and Writing Analytically 4 

ENGL 115H  Honors College Composition: Reading and Writing Analytically 4 

Select One Course:

PHIL 103  Logic and Critical Thinking 3 

ENGL 116  Critical Thinking and Argument 4 

Select One Course:

MATH 119  Elementary Statistics 4 

SOC 270  Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences 3 

PSYC 270  Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences 3 

Select One Course:

HIST 100  American Civilization I 3 

HIST 101  American Civilization II 3 

HIST 110  African-American History I 3 

HIST 113  Asian-American History II 3 

HIST 141  Mexican-American History I 3