BRISTOL – When Lorraine Lalli graduated from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2001, she was among only a handful of students of color.
But in the nearly 19 years since Lalli was hired as the law school’s first director of diversity and outreach, she has helped shepherd legions more students of color through the doors by engaging the community and encouraging high school and college students to consider a legal profession.
“Diversity just doesn’t happen naturally. You have to take steps to build it,” said Lalli, now the associate dean of student life and operations.
Today, students of color make up 28% of the first-year class at the state’s only law school, up from 9% when she began.
Talents not being realized
Lalli gravitated to the law school after graduating magna cum laude from Spelman College. She returned to Providence and saw the Mount Hope neighborhood she grew up in with new eyes.
“I could see the community in a different way,” Lalli said. She noticed bright people whose talents weren’t being realized.