Fifth Annual Trials Program Strives to Promote Socioeconomic Diversity in the Legal Profession

NEW YORK, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- This week the Advantage Testing Foundation welcomes 20 students to the Harvard University campus for the fifth annual Trials (Training and Recruitment Initiative for Admission to Leading Law Schools) program, which aims to help motivated undergraduates of modest means gain admission to America's leading law schools.

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Trials is a unique residential scholarship program developed by the Advantage Testing Foundation as a collaboration with Harvard Law School and the New York University School of Law. Its goal is to promote socioeconomic diversity in the legal profession.

"When it comes to diversity, the legal field continues to lag other highly skilled professions such as medicine, finance, and education," said Arun Alagappan, President of the Advantage Testing Foundation. Only two percent of students from the nation's top 20 law schools represent the lowest economic quartile of the general population[1], while collectively, minority lawyers constitute less than 10 percent of the U.S. legal profession.[2]

"Our mission is to change this homogeneous landscape. Trials students have overcome significant economic adversity and have earned the opportunity to contribute their extraordinary character, talents and ambitions to the advancement of the law," added Alagappan.

This year, students enrolled in Trials will reside for five weeks at Harvard University, where they will receive focused LSAT instruction from Advantage Testing instructors and attend a series of lectures by prominent lawyers, public figures, and legal scholars, including distinguished deans and faculty from both NYU Law and Harvard Law School. Students have no expenses associated with the full-scholarship program and receive a $3,000 stipend to replace summer employment income. To date, the median score of students taking the official LSAT after completing the Trials program is above the 90th percentile, compared to a median starting score at the 44th percentile.

"These students serve as an inspiration for what the legal profession can and should become, so that the law more fully represents the society it serves," Alagappan said. "We feel privileged to support such an extraordinary group of students with such inspiring life stories as they seek to contribute to society. It is our hope and expectation that top-tier law schools will continue to expand opportunities for high-achieving, low-income undergraduates who have the will and the drive to succeed."

Some Trials highlights                   

• To date 12 Trials alumni have enrolled at Harvard Law School.
• Trials students routinely receive multiple acceptances to such leading law schools as Harvard, NYU, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, and the University of Chicago.
• Each year, more than 2,000 students from all 50 states and Puerto Rico apply for 20 spots at Trials.
• Students from Trials' inaugural class recently graduated from law school and are beginning their careers, many as full associates at prestigious law firms.
• Michael Tubbs – an alumnus of the TRIALS 2009 class – founded the Phoenix Scholars, a non-profit organization working with California students to help them gain college admissions.
• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was an original partner of Trials when she was Dean of Harvard Law School.
• Since 2010, Harvard Law Dean Martha Minow and NYU Law Dean Ricky Revesz have met with and instructed each class of Trials students.
• Many Trials alumni "pay it forward" by returning as teaching assistants in subsequent summers.

About The Advantage Testing Foundation

The Advantage Testing Foundation is a nonprofit organization formed by Arun Alagappan, President and Founder of Advantage Testing, Inc. The Foundation advances the proposition that increased inclusiveness and socioeconomic diversity in higher education will result in an influx of talent, creativity, and energy to the nation's leadership pool. Through innovative programs and partnerships, the Foundation helps students pursue their academic and professional ambitions and promotes new ways of thinking about access to higher education. It is the public service arm of Advantage Testing, widely regarded as the nation's leading private tutorial and test preparation service. Drawing on the academic and institutional resources of Advantage Testing and generous public support, the Advantage Testing Foundation provides tutoring, test preparation, scholarship resources, financial assistance, merit-based scholarships, and academic and professional counseling to help students achieve optimal results in high school, college, graduate and professional school, and beyond. For more information, visit: http://www.atfoundation.org/ and http://www.advantagetesting.com.

[1] Richard H. Sander, Class in American Legal Education, 2011.
[2] American Bar Association, 2009.

SOURCE Advantage Testing Foundation