Ford Motor Company Wants to Increase Diversity in the Law Field

Ford Motor Company is collaborating with two Detroit-area charter high schools to offer students information and training on careers in law. 

The Ford Law Career Academy will introduce students to a wide range of tools to take the first steps in developing the skills, mindset, knowledge and networking they will need to succeed beyond high school. Interested students at Henry Ford Academy and University Preparatory Academy High School will begin the program as freshmen and continue through their four years. 

Alison Nelson is a lawyer for Ford’s legal counsel. She says that as a native Detroiter, she wanted to give students information she wished she had before entering a career in law. “For me, personally, being a child of Detroit and realizing how much it would have helped me to have a program like this, just to show me all the different facets of the law and how much I could learn from it, learn the way to think more strategically learn how to negotiate, learn everyday life skills.”

Nelson says representation matters. Her advice to students interested in pursuing law is to find support resources: “Look at some of the role models… and then also look around your local community. Because one thing that I found is that most of us are willing to engage mentor to talk to students.”

The program will begin in December of this year. The class will be offered as an elective for interested freshmen.