SULC brings more to diverse population

 
Southern University Law Center, a campus of the Southern University System, opened September 1947. Its concept was born out of a response of a lawsuit by an African American resident, Charles J. Hatfield, III, seeking to attend law school at a state institution.
On December 16, 1946, Louisiana State Board of Education took steps to establish a Law School for blacks at Southern University to be in operation for the 1947-1948 sessions.  
The mission and tradition of the Southern University Law Center is to provide access and opportunity to a diverse group of students from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups to obtain a high quality legal education with special emphasis on the Louisiana civil law. Additionally, their mission is to train lawyers and equip them with the skills necessary for the practice of law and for positions of leadership in society. ​
Southern University Law Center is one of the two public law schools in Louisiana. SULC provides their students with access, opportunity, and quality education for an affordable price. ​
“We are achieving our mission through making sure we bring a diverse population,” said Chancellor Freddie Pitcher Jr. “We make sure we provide a nurturing environment for our students to insure that they are successful. We have a number of programs that we try to show.”​
Among the many programs SULC has to offer is a legal writing program, which includes 8-9 professors solely for legal writing to make sure their students write well. ​
“We think of lawyers, we think of verbalizing and being a great orators,” said Pitcher.​
According to www.top-lawschools.com, the law school at SULC has 74 full- and part-time faculty on staff. Of the 2009 graduates, 74.2 percent were employed at graduation.
​SULC’s students also learn two different systems of law: Louisiana
is a civil law jurisdiction (in the tradition of France and Continental Europe), while law in every other state is based on the common law tradition.
SULC will not be apart of Southern University’s Distance learning program because they have their own.​
“We have our own distance learning program. We can only offer fifteen hours,” said Pitcher.​
The 3+3 program recruits college juniors and at SUBR into their first year of law school at SULC and students graduate with both degrees at the conclusion of the program.​
Students enrolled can obtain their juris doctorate and bachelors un six years opposed to the traditional seven years.​
3+3 program is designed to decrease the amount of times a student to earn a bachelors and juris doctorate.​
SULC only admitted person into the 3+3 program.
“We have to make sure the student is well prepared and mature enough.  We only give one exam per semester. Some may have done well in undergrad may not due as well,” said Pitcher. “We are very careful about who we let into the 3+3 program.”​​
SULC has over 4,500 alumni, 3,000 of which are African American. Ranking #1 in the country in best value SULC has proven and is still continuing to prove that it is a corner stone in the Southern University System.​