The Illinois Latino Law Student Association (ILLSA) began as an ambitious initiative in the Spring of 2003 by Carlota Toledo, a third-year evening student from DePaul University College of Law. ILLSA was formed in an effort to increase networking opportunities for Latina/o law students across Illinois and to build alliances between the Latino student associations at all of the law schools in Illinois. It grew into an alliance of nine (9) Illinois law schools:
- Chicago-Kent Hispanic-Latino Law Student Association,
- DePaul Latino Law Student Association,
- John Marshall Hispanic Law Student Association,
- Loyola Latino-American Law Student Association,
- Northern Illinois University Latina/o Law Student Association,
- Northwestern Latino Law Student Association,
- Southern Illinois Hispanic American Law Students Association,
- University of Chicago Latino/a Law Students Association, and
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Latina/o Law Students Association.
In the Fall 2003, ILLSA board members were appointed by each Latino law student association in Illinois. The ILLSA board continued to meet over the next academic year. This led up to ILLSA’s first major community service event, the ILLSA First Annual Illinois Latino Law Forum hosted in February 2004 at the Chicago Bar Association. The Forum was designed to bring Latina/o judges, lawyers, and law students in touch with prospective Latina/o law students. The Forum offered panels, admission workshops, and mock law classes with local law professors.
The First Annual Illinois Latino Law Forum put ILLSA on the map in the legal community; made universities, deans of admissions, and law firms aware of our presence and our mission; and excited students and people from all walks of life, and either created or cemented their resolve to enter the legal profession. Even after the event we continued to hear both from people who could not attend, but heard how great it was and from those who attended and who were eager to attend the next Forum. After only the first forum, we have already outgrown our generous accommodations at the Chicago Bar Association building, and as a result of our success we will need to switch to a larger venue for next year’s Forum in February 2005.
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