Two-Way Street

Recent grant will support student organization’s school outreach

—By Darren Schenck

The Street Law program at USC Law will be able to expand programs that connect law students with neighborhood schoolchildren and practicing attorneys, thanks to a recent grant from Northrop Grumman.

The grant will provide funding for program and transportation costs associated with new and existing Street Law programs, such as last fall’s popular Mentor Day event, which brought eighth-graders from Foshay Learning Center to USC to learn from attorneys and law students.

“This grant gives Street Law a lot of stability – and credibility,” said Irene Lee ’09, the program’s director. “Having this kind of support really builds on the momentum that we were able to create last semester. I’m glad we won’t have to disappoint the seventh graders by not being able to go out to Foshay again next year.”

A student-led organization that operates with the support of USC Law’s Office of Public Service (OPS), Street Law serves the community by partnering with local schools to teach students about their legal rights and the law. USC Law students also serve as mentors to local students, encouraging them to go to college and even consider a career in law, according to Lisa Mead, associate dean for OPS.

Local students attended a mock law class  during last fall's Mentor Day, organized by  Street Law. A recent grant will help the group  fund similar programs at USC Law.

Last fall, Lee worked with Sony Connect’s vice president of business and legal affairs Ajay Patel ’94 to develop a partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel-Southern California Chapter (ACCA-SoCal), a professional organization consisting of over 1,400 in-house lawyers in Southern California. According to Lee, the attorneys from ACCA-SoCal mentored law students, and together, attorneys and law students worked in teams to prepare lesson plans that taught basic civil law concepts to eighth-grade students at Foshay Learning Center.

“I really champion the idea of ‘dual mentorship,’ in which lawyers mentor law students, and together, they empower underprivileged youth to stay in school and consider higher education, including graduate school,” said Lee. “‘Passing on the torch’ is the best way we can build community and successfully run an outreach program.”

Last year’s program culminated with the Mentor Day field trip to the law school where students participated in workshops, listened to a mock lecture given by a USC law professor, and participated in a Q&A session with the law students and ACCA-So Cal attorney volunteers.

“I really enjoyed the project and plan to participate again next year,” said Allen C. Peters, assistant general counsel – integrated systems at Northrop Grumman. “In making the grant, Northrop Grumman agreed that the program is a terrific win-win for the USC Law students and the Foshay middle-school students.”

Peters served as an attorney volunteer, working with law students to prepare a classroom module on entertainment law and making two presentations at Mentor Day.

“This is a powerful program not only because of the exposure these inner city students get to basic legal concepts, but also because they get to interact with and see the USC law students as role models,” Peters said. “The way the Foshay students responded to the USC students with enthusiasm and interest was remarkable to watch. Most of the Foshay students had never met a lawyer or a law student, and I think this program opened their eyes to possibilities for themselves which they otherwise may never have known.”