Pipeline Spotlight

Just the Beginning

For over 30 years, Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization has offered free educational programming for students in middle school, high school, and law school across the country, with a mission to increase diversity in the legal profession. By connecting underrepresented students with education and opportunities, JTB illuminates a path to a legal career by lighting the spark of recognition that it is possible to become a lawyer and a leader.

Read an interview with Antonette N. Smith, Executive Director for Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization:

Please tell us about your professional background. How did you come to join Just the Beginning (JTB)?

Prior to joining JTB, I worked at the American Bar Association for over 20 years and at a law firm in Chicago. Each of my roles has included a focus on work in the areas of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI). During my time at the firm, we hosted a session for the Chicago Summer Legal Institute, and this is how I learned about JTB. This role has allowed me to combine my career of working with lawyers and the legal community with my passion for JEDI work and youth mentoring.

How do you describe JTB’s mission?

Our mission, in my words, is to provide opportunities and exposure to people who may not otherwise get it, to work to ensure lawyers and judges reflect the communities they serve, to provide young people of color and from other underrepresented groups with positive exposures and interactions with lawyers, judges, and other legal professions and to let them know that lawyers are leaders in our communities.

What do you enjoy most about working at JTB?

The thing that I enjoy most about working at JTB is seeing what we call the “JTB Spark” in the eyes of our scholars. Seeing the moment they learn a legal term, seeing the moment they realize that they can pursue a career in law if they choose to, and that we are here to help them get there.

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge to diversifying the legal pipeline today?

Simply put: opportunity and exposure. We aren’t all given the same opportunities to succeed, to be successful. We aren’t all invited into the same rooms socially or professionally. 

What are your organization’s greatest needs and how can others help you accomplish your goals?

We are a nonprofit, and therefore our greatest need tends to be financial support for operations as well as programs. Additionally, we are always in need of volunteers for our programming, especially our Summer Judicial Internship Diversity Project (SJID). SJID places approximately 100 law students as interns in the chambers of federal appellate, district, bankruptcy, magistrate, and select state appellate judges all over the country every summer. The process involves multiple levels of screening, interviews, and periodic group meetings once the interns have been selected and matched with a judge to ensure they put their best possible foot forward during their internships. We’ve been told by judges at all levels that our interns are uniquely prepared and that is due in large part to the assistance we receive from the hundreds of volunteers needed to run the program each year.

Is there anything we didn’t ask about that you’d like to share?

I want to thank PLI for this opportunity. For highlighting JTB and bringing us to the attention of legal professionals we wouldn’t otherwise reach. A great deal of our resources goes directly to programming, we would never be able to pay for the marketing and exposure you’ve given us here. We look forward to welcoming PLI members to the JTB family and growing our relationship.

More on JTB's Impact:

“The program has just had a profound fundamental impact on my life … It really is important [to try] to reach back and uplift others and also create a pipeline. I am the epitome of what this pipeline means, and it works.”
–Jaylin McClinton, JTB Alum and Senior Director, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

“All of us are here because somebody sacrificed greatly so we could be in the space we occupy, and we have a responsibility and an obligation to give back and to make the road better for somebody else.”
–Hon. Ann Claire Williams (Ret.), Founder, JTB, Of Counsel, Jones Day

“If you're thinking about volunteering, I would say do it. If there's one person that you can help, I think you're going to end up remembering that more than the extra billable hour that you spent.”
–Rasha Gerges, Just the Beginning Steering Committee Member and Volunteer, Partner, Jones Day