Dallas Bar AssociationMinority Attorney Business Development Initiative

The Dallas Bar Association has worked with the major law firms in Dallas over the last several years to enhance recruiting of minority law students to the Dallas area. This Minority Attorney Business Development Initiative (MABDI Project) was established to assist the participating law firms in recruiting from a larger pool of minority candidates and to do so in a systematic way.
In the traditional recruitment model, students often take the initial steps to try to obtain an interview for a summer associate position. Students sometimes decide whether or not to seek an interview with a given firm based on location. This project is designed to provide a more direct link between top law students and Dallas area firms during the students’ decision-making process
Eligible students (top 50% of 2L class) who have an interest in the project and willingness to consider coming to Dallas following graduation are invited to send resumes and transcripts, preferably via email, by August 31, 2006. Early applications are encouraged and will be processed prior to August 31. The student’s class standing/rank should be included in the resume if available. Along with their resumes and transcripts, students should send a cover letter explaining their ties to Dallas and/or their reasons for considering Dallas as a place to practice law following graduation from law school.
Student information received by August 31, 2006 will be sent to the participating law firms during the first week of September for review and consideration. Students should adhere to the deadline if possible since the firms will be receiving a large volume of resumes from students and may already be in the interviewing process by that date. The law firms will identify and contact the students they wish to interview. The firms will work together with the students to coordinate interview schedules.
Those students who receive and accept offers from firms to work as summer associates in Dallas in 2007 may contact a MABDI committee member to discuss what is expected of summer associates in larger firms and to discuss standards for success in a large firm environment. It is our hope that the MABDI committee will be able to assist the students who participate in this program following law school graduation to help them grow professionally and flourish in the Dallas legal community.

Please contact your Career Planning Office to see if your school participates in this program.