Paralegal Pathways Initiative At Columbia Law School

Mission: The Paralegal Pathways Initiative (PPI) seeks to amplify the talents and perspectives of those who have directly experienced incarceration in an effort to create economic opportunity for our participants, advance racial equity in the legal field, build knowledge of the impacts of the criminal legal system among current and future legal professionals, and expose the legal profession to an untapped wealth of legal experience and talent. Problem Statement: There are approximately 2.3 million people incarcerated in the U.S., and about 600,000 of those people return home from prison each year. While many have gained a range of legal skills while inside correctional settings, they face barriers upon reentry to high-quality jobs due to legal restrictions, stigma, or other structural barriers. As a result, formerly incarcerated individuals are unemployed at nearly five times the rate of the general U.S. population. Our initiative seeks to elevate, rather than ignore, the skills of justice-impacted individuals that could lead to long-term employment. We emphasize a shift to an asset-based approach: one that recognizes those experiences and enables more fulfilling, sustainable careers for our participants.