School Notes: Yale Law School
January/February 2023

Program will expand access to law school

The Yale Law School Launchpad Scholars Program, powered by Latham & Watkins, was announced in October to help members of underrepresented or underserved communities navigate the law school application and admission process from start to finish. Applications for the inaugural program will open in March 2023, and the program will kick off in August 2023 with a Welcome Summit at the New York office of Latham & Watkins, featuring community-building, career exploration, and leadership development sessions. The program builds upon Yale Law School’s commitment to expanding access and equity in legal education. Together with the Tsai Leadership Program and the Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program, these initiatives continue to make law school more accessible and impactful to cohorts of students who better reflect the diversity of our communities.

YLS faculty elected to the American Law Institute

Douglas NeJaime, the Anne Urowsky Professor of Law, and Stephen B. Bright, the Harvey L. Karp Visiting Lecturer in Law, have been elected to the American Law Institute (ALI). Professor NeJaime specializes in family law, legal ethics, law and sexuality, and constitutional law. He served as principal drafter of the Connecticut Parentage Act, which received near-unanimous support in both chambers of Connecticut’s legislature and was signed into state law in 2021. Stephen Bright is a leading advocate for defendants facing capital charges. His areas of expertise include capital punishment, legal representation for poor people accused of crimes, conditions and practices in jails and prisons, racial discrimination in criminal courts, and judicial independence. Bright has argued four capital cases before the US Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor each time. He joined the Southern Center for Human Rights as director in 1982 and he served as the organization’s president and senior counsel from 2006 to 2016. ALI is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law.