“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” — Maya Angelou
“I am the first person in my family to graduate from college. So I have not had anyone who could really help me with my law school decision. Your encouragement and insights came just at the right time. I hope to “pay it forward” someday when I am a lawyer by mentoring a future law student!” – Admitted Student
We open front doors and let the future in.
One of our highest priorities is to make each and every student feel welcomed and embraced by the CSU C|M|LAW family, especially at our front door.
This morning I am requesting that our alumni and friends support our first-year students as CSU C|M|LAW Front Door Mentors.
You can volunteer to be a mentor by submitting your information here, email our Office of Student and Career Services at careernull@law.csuohio.nulledu, or simply reply to this morning message. As a mentor, you will be matched with an incoming first-year law student for the 2022-2023 academic year. Front Door Mentors make a measurable difference for students from day one.
All our students and graduates have something in common –they have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.
70% of our 1L class are the first law student in their family. 15% are the first college graduate in their family
At CSU C|M|LAW, we have a long tradition of supporting first-generation law and college students to careers in the law – it is part of our history and a priority in our current day-to-day to work. Recognizing the unique value that first-generation students bring to the legal industry as well as the unique challenges that first-generation students face, we deliberately cultivate an environment where first-generation students can succeed.
From our Jump Start Program, run by our Academic Success Team, to our student organizations, which include a student-run First-Generation Lawyers Organization, we focus on providing all law students with the support they need to feel welcome and successful. This includes individually-matched Peer Mentors, through the Peer Mentor Program administered by our Office of Student and Career Services.
It also includes an individually matched Alumni Mentor through a partnership between Student and Career Services and the Cleveland-Marshall Law Alumni Association (CMLAA). This CMLAA program is a unique component of the first-year experience at CSU C|M|LAW.
With the support of the CMLAA, we are matching every incoming first-year student with a mentor, offering every student the opportunity to experience the power of our alumni/friend network from the start of their academic career.
Conversations between mentors and students include a wide variety of topics, from academics to careers to professionalism. Mentors will introduce students to the profession and to the CSU C|M|LAW community. Our Mentor Program will provide guidance to help you determine what will be most helpful for your student.
Regardless of whether you have generations of family members in the law, or you are the first in your family to attend law school or college, our goal is for every graduate of CSU C|M|LAW to have a meaningful law school experience, to graduate, to pass the bar exam on the first-time, and to secure post-graduate employment that launches a long-term career.
You -- our alumni and friends – are CSU Cleveland-Marshall's greatest strength.
At some point in each our careers, someone influenced our trajectory.
It’s our turn to pay it forward.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay Committed to Living Justice.
Have a great day. Have a great week.
Believe in C|M|LAW. Please Give Now.
My best,
Lee
Lee Fisher
Dean, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law | Cleveland State University
Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law
For copies of past messages, please go to this link: Monday Morning Messages.