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These budding law school students have just completed a mock trial as part of a King Hall
Outreach Program at the UC Davis School of Law.
It's extremely intense and they definitely are showing what law school is really like.
And they don't hold back at all.
Now in its 12th year, this rigorous, 4-week-long program is designed to help first-generation
and under-represented students with high potential be more competitive when applying to law schools.
Our goal really is to invest in the pipeline of students who would add to the diversity
of the legal profession.
The people of this state need lawyers from all walks of life, all ethnic, racial groups.
Cruz Reynoso is a retired civil rights lawyer, judge and educator who fought inequality as
an adult, after living it as a child.
He's one of a handful of so-called "legends of the law" invited to speak to students in
this program.
I come from that same background so I share with them what my own background is and how
uh good actually the legal profession has been for me.
For people like me who have the aspirations but don't have the money this program is amazing
to just help us -- maybe help us out and give us a leg up.
They live together, they work together, they have residential advisors and tutors in the
dorms who go over their assignments late into the night.
From visiting courthouses and law firms to practicing in the courtroom here, Dean Johnson
says this program gives students an inside look at what it's like to be a lawyer and
will eventually lead to a more diverse legal system that truly represents the people it
serves.
After being in this program and meeting the people and the types of people that will eventually
become lawyers and really seeing what it takes to be a lawyer, I feel much more confident
that I'll be able to do it.
Kristen Simoes for UC Davis