Press Release

NIU College of Law Hosts Annual CLEO Summer Program

June 15, 2009

DeKalb, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University College of Law, once again, is hosting undergraduate students from around the nation at its Sophomore Summer Institute.  The Institute, co-sponsored by the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) and the College of Law, is designed for students interested in attending law school.

Twenty students from around the country are participating in the 2009 session, which introduces students to the rigors of law school study.  Program participants will receive instruction in legal writing skills, including organizational and essay writing; take condensed versions of traditional law school courses; and attend classes that helped prepare them for the LSAT exam.  Students also will attend workshops, take exams, and participate in a moot court program. 

The CLEO Sophomore Summer Institute is supported by the Thurgood Marshall Legal Education Opportunity Program, a federally-funded project of the U.S. Department of Education.  Its goal is to help low-income, minority, or otherwise disadvantaged students succeed in law school.  Traditional CLEO programs recruit students who have completed their bachelor degrees and have been admitted to a law school.  The Sophomore Summer Institute recruits students in the middle of their undergraduate studies with the goal of preparing them for entry into and success in law school. 

The Institute, held at the NIU College of Law since 2002, was the only one of its kind offered in conjunction with CLEO for several years.  In 2007, CLEO offered similar programs patterned after the NIU model.  Interim Dean and Professor of Law Malcolm L. Morris, who developed the program, has been the CLEO Program Director since its inception.

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For more information, contact: 
Melody Mitchell
Alumni Events & Public Relations
(815) 753-9655 or mmitchell@niu.edu