A new law club is encouraging students to explore law topics and majors.
With the combined efforts of College President Luis Sanchez and Criminal Justice Professor Chad Basile for the past year, there is now an opportunity for students to explore the legal field.
The Law Club will meet once a month with undecided dates for the future. Their first meet-up was Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. in President Sanchez’s conference room. During the first meeting, attendees watched the movie “Twelve Angry Men.” Basile, a former attorney, led a lively discussion about the movie and about trial proceedings.
Club president Leah Sankey, 20, Criminal Justice major, believes anyone who is a criminal justice major and interested in becoming a lawyer would probably be interested in joining the Law Club. Professor Basile shared his views on why people would be interested in joining the club.
“For a lot of people today in politics and society, there is a lot of attention in the media with the use of force both with the police and the public,” said Basile. “We see a lot of rioting in the streets and we haven’t seen people doing this in a while.”
Basile feels that students could potentially pursue careers in law or criminal justice. However, he implores students to focus on the people in the cases.
“We’d like to steer them in the right direction and hope people will take up a profession as maybe a lawyer, a judge, or court investigator,” said Basile. “They need to learn about the victims. So often the focus is on the crime committed, but they don’t mention the impact of the people.”
According to Sankey, the Law Club should also help students as they continue on their education.
“We hope it will teach people about the law and prepare them for law school and what they’re getting themselves into,” said Sankey.
At the November meeting, they are considering bringing in a criminal or civil lawyer to speak.
Professor Basile mentioned a new program sponsored by the California State Bar Association, the licensing organization that monitors attorneys.
“It’s called Community Colleges Pathways to Law from the Chancellor’s Office in Sacramento,” said Basile. “It’s an unprecedented effort within California’s higher education to offer something like this in communities with a diverse population.”
This program will provide students at 24 community colleges a smoother pathway to six of the top law schools in California. Brice W. Harris, chancellor of the California Community Colleges, released a detailed program of how to encourage potential law students to enter some of the finest law schools in the nation. For more information visit their website at http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/.
