March 08, 2023 — The Houston Business Journal has named the University of Houston Law Center an Outstanding Diverse Organization as part of the publication’s annual Diversity in Business Awards. HBJ announced the 2023 honorees in February.
The Diversity in Business Awards recognizes “organizations and individuals who have shown exceptional commitment to promoting practices that advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in business leadership and who bolster equality across all areas of diversity; including age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race and religion.”
“We are honored to be recognized by the Houston Business Journal for our commitment to diversity,” said Leonard M. Baynes, Dean of the University of Houston Law Center.
“The most rewarding aspect of incorporating diversity in our business is educating law students from all backgrounds and instilling them with the power of legal education. This power is something that we can provide to all students regardless of their background or circumstances and it can change the trajectory of their lives. The reward comes when we witness law graduates taking their legal education and excelling in their careers as successful attorneys, business leaders, politicians, law firm partners, and judges to name a few,” added Baynes.
The UH Law Center’s diversity initiatives are showing results. The entering class of 2022 is the most diverse in the Law Center’s history. Approximately 81% of entering 1Ls are first-generation law school students, and 17.6% are first-generation college students. Of this cohort, 56.6% are women, 48.4% are from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, including African Americans, Asian Americans and Latino/a/x Americans and 13.7% identify themselves as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Pre-Law Pipeline Program, which aims to identify law school candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, recently completed its seventh year of programming. This program has real results propelling its participants into the legal profession with almost 12-point median LSAT score increases. Since its inception, close to 120 of the pipeline participants are now attending or have completed law school across the nation.
All the 2023 honorees will be recognized during a ceremony on March 30 and featured in the March 31 edition of the Houston Business Journal.
For more on the UH Law Center’s Diversity, Racial Justice and Human Rights Initiative, visit https://www.law.uh.edu/rjhr/.
