The Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program supports low-income, educationally disadvantaged, and minority students access law school and enter the legal profession. Authorized in 1998 under the Higher Education Act of 1965, and administered by the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO), the Marshall Program is designed to increase diversity in the legal field. Since 1998, the program has helped over 7,500 minority and non-minority students attend law school through comprehensive counseling, placement assistance, training, and financial aid. In conjunction with CLEO, a non-profit founded in 1968 as part of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education, and private sector contributions, the Marshall Program administers six-week law school preparatory summer institute programs, bar examination preparation, and fellowship assistance following graduation. The program is currently supporting more than 800 students in 40 states complete law school.

The program's efforts to help underprivileged persons succeed in law school are particularly important to rebuilding the eroding public trust in the justice system by increasing diversity in the profession. Minority groups comprise more than 30 percent of the general population yet represent less than 10 percent of the legal profession, no one minority representing more than four percent. Based on a study conducted by the ABA in 2000, more than half of the respondents believed that the system treated people differently based on the color of their skin. In order to revive the public's confidence in the system, the Marshall Program is working to increase the number of minorities in the legal profession, guaranteeing that the faces of the legal system – prosecutors, judges, public defenders, and others – are a reflection of the people they serve.

Through need-based financial assistance, the Marshall Program helps prospective law students overcome the most substantial obstacle to obtaining a legal education cost. According to the federal government, the average total accumulated debt burden for a student graduating law school is $84,000, with approximately 20 percent of those students carrying over $100,000. For poor, minority students this financial commitment makes attending law school an impossibility, therefore limiting basic access to legal education to those with the greatest financial resources, not necessarily the best qualifications. The Marshall Program targets this problem by identifying qualified students with critical financial needs and assisting them first and foremost.

Local communities benefit from the Marshall Program's support for low-income students. The program emphasizes a commitment to public service, and despite its small material reward, many program alumni return to their communities to provide disadvantaged citizens the necessary guidance to address their legal problems. This is significant to legal aid programs across the country, considering the 2005 study, "Documenting the Justice Gap in America, The Current Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-Income Americans," found that 70 to 80 percent of the legal needs of the poor go unmet. Marshall alumni are dedicated to the fair administration of justice, and many participants have gone on to make indelible contributions to our nation as Members of Congress, judges (including those of native tribes), clergy, higher education administration officials, law professors, prosecutors, and public defenders.

Originally authorized in 1998 for $5 million a year, the Marshall Program is currently included in both the House and Senate bills to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (H.R. 5647, S. 3708).

The American Bar Association supports reauthorizing the Marshall Program and wrote (PDF) the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education on June 1, 2006 and June 6, 2006, respectively, asking both committees to fund the Marshall Program at $4 million for FY 2007. CLEO has been able to successfully administer the program at its current funding level; however, increased funding is critical this fiscal year in order to help similar state-based programs in Georgia, Indiana, and Kentucky reach a wider audience.

• The Marshall Program helps restore an eroding public trust in the justice system and the decisions it renders by ensuring that the legal profession reflects the diversity of the nation’s population.


• Congress must share the responsibility of providing equal opportunities for all students by supporting programs like the Thurgood Marshall Program, which has the experience and the expertise necessary to deal with the challenges facing disadvantaged students.


• Since the 1960s, CLEO has been firmly committed to providing equal access to legal education, helping over 7,500 minority and non-minority students complete law school. CLEO now seeks to broaden its mission to support existing state-based programs and to reach even more eligible students.


• In order to support its existing work and appropriate expansion, the ABA urges Congress to fund the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program at $4 million for FY 2007.

The American Bar Association urges Congress to fund the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program at a level that will sufficiently increase the number of disadvantaged, minority students entering the legal profession. The ABA supports federally and privately-funded efforts to minimize financial barriers for underprivileged persons attending law school.