

Sydney Howe-Barksdale, the director of Widener Law’s Public Interest Resource Center and the coordinator of the JURIST Academy Summer Camp and Dean of the Law School Linda L. Ammons

Professor John Culhane
On Monday, June 2nd, Widener Law’s Delaware campus opened the Summer 2008 JURIST Academy, a two-week long summer-camp intended to teach minority undergraduates about the law and encourage them to pursue a legal education. Dean Linda Ammons greeted the students, telling them, “I think that you have a very bright destiny, and I look forward to having you join us.”The 29 students in the program represent fifteen different institutions and a variety of states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, but also Florida and North Carolina, demonstrating the program’s wide appeal. Sydney Howe-Barksdale, the director of Widener Law’s Public Interest Resource Center and the coordinator of the JURIST Academy Summer Camp, spoke after the Dean and filled the students in on what to expect of the two-week program.The two-week program features classes in torts, criminal law, and legal writing, as well as a daily LSAT prep class. Participants in the program will enjoy a field trip to Potter Anderson &amp; Corroon LLP in Wilmington as well as a daylong field trip to Philadelphia that will feature a meeting with Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham. In addition, the students will learn about how to get into law school, how to pay for law school, and about important extracurricular activities including moot court and law reviews.Sponsors for the program include DuPont, Potter Anderson &amp; Corroon LLP, Morris James LLP, Young Conaway Stargatt &amp; Taylor LLP, Saul Ewing LLP, Multicultural Judges and Lawyers Section of the Delaware State Bar Association, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Delaware.