Diversity and the Bar - May/June 2016

“I really enjoyed my work but felt I could do more as a lawyer than I could as an assistant,” Bontkowski said, noting her passion to become an attorney was stirred after seeing the unequal treatment of minority defendants firsthand. “I saw the impact of an effective lawyer, and I also appreciated the intellectual challenge that comes with being a good attorney. I have always enjoyed being

Serving as Advocates

As a woman whose mother, grandmother and great-grandmother struggled to succeed in a segregated South, Porter is adamant that more African-Amer-icans should pursue legal careers. Noting that fewer than 5 percent of all attorneys are black, she pointed to increased racial tensions across the U.S. and called for more representation a “sure way to tackle the discrepancy between the criminal justice system and the black community.

“In a utopia-like society, this would not matter. In
fact, this should not matter in principle, until we are
faced with another law enforcement officer escaping
charges for the murder of yet another unarmed black
male; then it does,” said Porter, who wants to be a
partner in a large corporate firm. “As a community,
Wong, who will intern with the United Nations in
Geneva this summer, said she is “constantly chang-
ing my mind” about what type of law to pursue,
but she knows that she wants to “work to further
opportunity, human rights and representation of
marginalized groups.”
“Since coming to law school, the law has only
surprised me more and more with all of its power and
possibilities,” she said. “Ultimately, I hope to work
at the nexus of government, business and nonprofit
one day to find institutional solutions to the world’s
remaining problems, whether it’s on a direct level or
a policy-driven, big-picture level. I still have to hone
a lot of these aspirations down, but I’m so grateful to
LMJ/MCCA for allowing me the opportunity to figure
it all out.”
Details about the LMJ Scholarship program can be
found at www.mcca.com/scholarships. ■