The Paralegal Pathways Initiative: A ‘Life Changer’ After Incarceration
Columbia Law School students collaborate with formerly incarcerated participants to leverage legal experience into employment.
The Paralegal Pathways Initiative (PPI), which is housed in Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, brings together two groups whose legal knowledge comes from very different perspectives: current Law School students and aspiring lawyers and paralegals whose skills were acquired while they were incarcerated.
Under the guidance of faculty advisers, the Columbia Law students, together with students from Fordham Law, prepare the PPI class curriculum in a fall semester course, then recruit faculty, alumni, and other facilitators, including some past participants, to conduct a spring semester class. That class provides formerly incarcerated individuals with training in legal research and writing, as well as the practical skills needed to apply and interview for jobs. The goal of the program is to transform and harness the PPI participants’ experiences navigating the criminal legal justice system into impactful and informed careers in the law.
PPI was founded in 2019 and is led by co-founder and Associate Director Devon Simmons. Philip M. Genty, Everett B. Birch Innovative Teaching Clinical Professor Emeritus in Professional Responsibility; Ilene Strauss, clinical associate professor of law at Fordham Law and adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law; and Susan P. Sturm, George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility, serve as faculty advisers.