Lois Kimbol, vice president of programs for the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group.
As we learned in 2008 and 2009, an economic downturn may well have a disproportionate impact on diverse law students and lawyers. Part of mitigating that result is being intentional in keeping the diversity pipeline open through programs that promote and sustain diverse law students from their 1L year on.
Each year since 2003, The Philadelphia Diversity Law Group (PDLG) Fellows Program—known as the Summer 1L Program in its early years—has provided diverse law students routes to summer jobs at Philadelphia law firms and in the legal departments of major Philadelphia corporations and institutions. To date, more than 570 diverse students have participated. Starting with 12 students and expanding to more than 40 in recent years, the PDLG Fellows Program has continued through good financial times and bad.
