Katie Rosier (Comanche Tribe), executive director of the Indian
Legal Program at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona
State University, is on a mission to create a pathway for Native
kids across the country to practice law.
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Katie Rosier (Courtesy
photo)
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"We basically act like aunties and uncles, helping people figure
out what they need, and what they want from a law school," she told
Native News Online.
Native Americans and Alaska Natives represent 1.6 percent of the
U.S. population but only 0.3 percent of U.S. attorneys, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau from 2015. The initiative Rosier spearheaded
is one of a handful to up the representation of Native Americans
practicing law from just under 400 between 1987 and 1989, to 1,273
between 2009 and 2010, according to the National Native American
Bar Association.
The Pathway to Law program
(recently changed from "Pipeline to Law" to avoid resource extraction
language parallels), hosted annually since 2015, pays for a group
of prospective Indigenous law students from across the country to
attend a weeklong workshop hosted annually at one of the three supporting
campuses with large Native student populations: Arizona State University,
Michigan State, and University of California Berkeley. There, they
are given the tools to navigate the law school application process,
including a crash course on exploring career options, applying early,
writing personal statements, navigating financial aid, and thinking
about school selection.
While students are in the program, Rosier said they're not beholden
to one of the three supporting law schools.
"We don't do an ASU Berkeley or Michigan State sales pitch at all,"
she said. "It's all about, what do they need to be the most successful?
And so we feel like by taking out the recruitment piece, they can
really focus on themselves and what they think they want."
In the Covid-19 era, the program is online and spread out over
six weeks so the students don't get overwhelmed and can maintain
focus, Rosier said.
Additionally, the program fundraises to give participating students
access to a Law School Admission Test (LSAT) prep class, which typically
cost between $500 to $2,000.
"And that's what most of these students can't afford, or don't
know that they need," Rosier said. "So we've seen people do a prep
course through our program and jump their LSAT score 15 points.
So going from a low, mediocre LSAT to a high one, they have more
options, they have potential for more scholarship money. So it's
a really good thing for them."
In 2015, the National Native American Bar Association came out
with a study
titled "The Pursuit of Inclusion: An in-depth exploration of the
Experiences and Perspectives of Native American Attorneys in the
Legal Profession" that ultimately inspired Rosier to address some
of the issues identified in the study, including early outreach
and pre-law advising.
The study notes that two of the most influential factors for Native
people to attend law school were recommendations from a legal professional,
or encouragement from college counselors. In anecdotal evidence,
Rosier said discouragement from those same people can work against
prospective students.
"We still have pre-law advisors, or professors telling our Native
students that law school is hard for them, and they should think
about something else," Rosier said. "That is still happening."
But despite being one of the least represented groups in the legal
profession, some argue that Native people are the most affected
by the law.
"Native Americans are perhaps more affected by the law than any
group in America," said former Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil
Rights Division for the federal government, Lawrence Baca. "Indians
are mentioned three times in the federal Constitution by race
It is in this legal universe that the necessity arises for Native
American lawyers and judges. It is imperative to the national justice
system that Native Americans be fully part of the proces."
In addition to academic advisement, Pathway to Law builds fellowship
and support for Native Americans and Alaska Native students to band
together in a field where diversity is harder to come by.
One first year law student, Kelsey Haake (Alaska Native Inupiaq),
is experiencing this first hand in her first year of law school
at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the top law schools in
the country. Haake was accepted to the Pathway to Law program, but
ultimately gave up her spot to another student. Still, she's maintained
a relationship with Rosier, who warned her about the lack of diversity
among the "T14," referring to the nation's top law school programs.
"Before deciding to go to Penn, Kate warned me about the lack of
Native students at T14 law schools and the isolation I may feel,"
Haake told Native News Online. "Going through my first semester,
I was naïve, thinking being the only Native student in my class
would be fine, but I wasn't in a lot of ways. Considering the pandemic,
taking classes online, being a mother, and not fully being able
to relate to someone takes its toll."
According to individual demographic report disclosures required
by the American Bar Association and compiled by Haake last year
while deciding on a law school, 34 of the 14,000 students in top
law schools across the U.S. are Native.
"I texted Kate about this, and she said I could either bide my
time or be an agent of change. I not only needed to open doors,
but I need to help pave the way for more students, or nothing will
change," Haake said. As a result, in January, she began reaching
out to deans at Penn Law to present statistics on the barriers facing
prospective Native students.
She's also been reaching out to Native American Student Associations
at different universities to offer mentorship and put together an
informational panel with Native alumni at UPenn.
"It feels like there is a ton of work to be done in this space,"
she said. "I have known that this experience of me attending law
school is much bigger than me, but an opportunity to raise awareness
in my classes and a more holistic level in the admissions process
for future Native students."
The application
to apply to Pathway to Law's summer program, beginning in June,
closes May 1. For students interested in applying, or seeking Native
mentorship, you can contact Kelsey Haake at khaake@pennlaw.upenn.edu.
Anyone interested in supporting the program can get in touch with
Rosier at ipl@asu.edu.
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