National Black PreLaw Conference Founder Evangeline Mitchell Honored by Houston Lawyers Association

June 13, 2012 - PRLog -- On Saturday, June 9, 2012, the Houston Lawyers Association hosted its Annual Scholarship and Awards Gala at the Crowne Plaza Reliant Park in Houston, Texas.  The Houston Lawyers Association (HLA), an affiliate chapter of the National Bar Association, was founded in 1955 to address the particular needs of Black lawyers and the legal needs of the Black community in general. At the time the organization was established, Black lawyers were not permitted to join the Houston Bar Association because of their race.  

At HLA’s gala, six people and/or organizations were recognized for their outstanding commitment to the community.  Among the honorees, Attorney Evangeline Mitchell was chosen to receive The Roberson L. King Award for Excellence in Education.   The recipient of this award empowers the community through education and service to today’s legal scholars and tomorrow’s legal icons.

Evangeline was selected for this award because she has demonstrated a strong and sincere commitment to assisting African Americans interested in going to law school and becoming attorneys over the past decade.  Her projects have included authoring and publishing books such as The African American Pre-Law School Advice Guide and The African American Law School Survival Guide, editing and publishing Black Pre-Law Magazine, and founding several initiatives including the National HBCU Pre-Law Project, the National Black Pre-Law Network, the Black Lawyers Legacy Project, and the Future Legal Eagles Flight School.  

Most notably, she created The National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair eight years ago, which is known as the nation’s premier information-sharing and networking event for aspiring Black lawyers.  It is designed to educate African Americans interested in law school so that they can become more well-informed and sophisticated legal education consumers, and teaches them what it takes to become more competitive, excellent and strategic law school applicants and law students.  The comprehensive event helps attendees gain “insider” knowledge on everything they would need to know from getting into and through law school, dealing with diversity issues, passing the bar exam, to succeeding in life after earning the law degree, and much more.  It also offers life-changing opportunities including the chance to gain one-on-one assistance through clinics and practical assistance sessions.  Further, it provides the chance to network with knowledgeable people within the legal community who could potentially become mentors, and connect with fellow law school aspirants for the purpose of forming support networks and accountability partnerships.

Along with Attorney Mitchell, the other 2012 awardees included: Habern O’Neil, & Pawgan L.L.P., the Honorable Frank Pierce, The Harris County Public Defenders’ Office, Tommie Florence, and Attorney Gary Alfred.

In her acceptance speech, Evangeline stressed that the work that she does as a social entrepreneur is challenging.  However, she is passionately committed to continuing it as long as God enables her to.  She personally extended a formal invitation to all attendees to spread the word, and participate and support the conference to ensure it continues to help those in the Black community with law school aspirations.  The need remains great as African Americans are currently underrepresented in both American law schools and in the legal profession making up only about 7% of law students and 4% of lawyers, while representing nearly 13% of the U.S. population.