OUR
STORY

Experience Law • Embrace Leadership

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The What We Do

The Law & Leadership Institute (LLI) is a non-profit in Ohio that works with high school students from underserved communities to educate them about and prepare them for careers in the legal profession.

 
 
 
 

where we began

 

LLI began in 2008 as a summer initiative of the Supreme Court of Ohio with just 40 students in the cities of Cleveland and Columbus. One year later, the program expanded to include the law schools in the cities of Akron, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo. Today, LLI provides legally-based academic instruction and leadership training to approximately 175 high school students across the state of Ohio due to the support of all nine Ohio law schools and generous grants from the Ohio State Bar Foundation, as well as continued support from the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Ohio federal courts, the metropolitan bar associations and corporate and individual stewards of the communities who recognize the value of the work LLI performs.

 

LLI at a glance

 
  • The program is free to all participants. Additionally, students are provided bus passes and lunch.

  • We provide year-round, four-year academic and professional programming to participants.

  • Participants learn about the law and build their reading, writing, public speaking, critical thinking, networking, professional, and leadership skills.

  • LLI programming prepares students to be academically competitive and exposes them to the breadth of careers accessible with a Juris Doctor.

  • LLI sessions are held in law schools and most instructors are current law students.

 

law & leadership students

 

 

The Success of LLI

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STUDENT IMPROVEMENTS

Numbers Don't Lie

 

LLI contracts with researchers at the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs (a university that does not have an affiliated law school) to conduct a formal evaluation of LLI programming and methods. In 2016, LLI received the results of the first year of a two-year evaluation.

 
  • 88.1%

    Writing

  • 81.1%

    Self-Confidence

  • 75.8%

    Problem Solving

  • 73.7%

    Public Speaking

  • 70.4%

    Legal Knowledge

  • 63.5%

    Self Discipline

College & Beyond

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Collegebound

The colleges LLI graduates attend are similar to what you would see from a typical suburban high school – elite private liberal arts colleges, community colleges, large public universities, and HBCU’s.  Our graduates’ reach extends across Ohio and across the country.  

 
 
 
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The Future of the Law

Two of the students who started the first year of the statewide LLI program have graduated law school and passed the bar exam. Alexis Apparicio graduated from the LLI program in Columbus, went on to graduate from Ohio University, and is now a 2020 graduate of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.  Imokhai Okolo graduated from the LLI program in Akron, went on to graduate from Miami University, and is now a 2020 graduate of University of Akron School of Law.  Both attorneys attribute being where they are today because of their experiences with LLI and both Alexis and Imokhai are shining examples of the very reason LLI exists.