Brandeis Law students raise money for local high schoolers interested in the law

A major project for any first-year student at the Brandeis School of Law is writing a brief. About five years ago, a group of upper-level students decided to turn this rite of passage into a service opportunity.

Law students active in the Central High School Partnership began volunteering a weekend of their time to bind the briefs for students, charging them a much lower fee than they would find at a print shop. Those fees then go to the partnership, which is an effort between Louisville’s Central High School and the Brandeis School of Law to promote diversity in the legal profession.

In 2018, the law students raised nearly $1,200.

Some of that money will be used to send two Central High students to the Summer Law Institute, a weeklong program for high schoolers interested in the law. Coordinated by the Louisville Bar Association, the Brandeis School of Law and Bellarmine University, the institute allows students to meet judges and lawyers, tour courthouses and participate in a mock trial.

The rest of the money raised from the brief-binding project helps fund a summer internship at the Legal Aid Society for a Central student.

"I'm so glad we were able to do this," says Brandeis Law 3L Mashayla Hays, who teaches in the Central High program and was herself a student in Central's Law and Government Magnet Program. "This program has just helped me see full circle on so many different levels."