The Thomas R. Kline School of Law has created a 3+3 program with Spelman College, the historically Black women’s liberal arts college located in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the first such partnership for Kline Law with a historically Black college or university (HBCU).
Under the 3+3 program, students at Spelman College can earn an undergraduate degree and a juris doctor from Kline Law in six years rather than seven, saving time and money.
Participating students will spend three years at Spelman, completing general education and major coursework requirements. In the fourth year, participants will begin their legal studies at Kline Law. Credits earned in the fourth year will satisfy degree requirements at Spelman while also counting toward their law degree.
“We’re excited to collaborate with Spelman College in this new venture,” said Daniel Filler, dean of Kline School of Law. “As one of the most highly regarded historically Black colleges in the country, Spelman has graduated path-breaking lawyers, including Stacey Abrams and Marian Wright Edelman. Spelman is simply one of the most distinguished institutions of higher education in the United States, and we are so pleased to partner with the College to graduate the next generation of lawyer leaders.”
Within Kline Law, the program, which will begin at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, was formed after Dean Filler and Danielle Boardley, director of diversity, inclusion & student belonging along with leadership at Spelman College saw the benefits of a strategic collaboration.
“This partnership will expand Kline Law’s commitment to creating opportunities for students from underrepresented populations in law schools and increasing diversity in the legal profession,” said Boardley, who has worked with Spelman College students as part of the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Diversity Pipeline Program.
The Spelman-Kline Law partnership is one of a number of similar programs Kline Law has entered into with other universities, including Drexel University; Arcadia University; Elizabethtown College; Thomas Jefferson University; Adelphi University; Rowan University; Robert Morris; St. Francis University; and most recently Wilkes University.