Law Schools

The Break Into Law Conference: Where Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Meet For Aspiring Law Students

This conference is a place where employers will 'see people for people, and not just people for their pedigree.'

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Sydney Montgomery

Sydney Montgomery (courtesy photo)

If you’re a would-be first generation law student but you’re unsure where to start, then you’re going to need someone who’s willing to help you break down some barriers to get there.

Enter Sydney Montgomery, the 29-year-old CEO of Barrier Breakers, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to and success in higher education for minorities, low-income, and otherwise disadvantaged students. Montgomery — a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School — is the first lawyer in her family. As a Black woman, Montgomery has unique insights on the world of law school admissions, and her goal is to help others reach new heights they previously thought were impossible for people like them.

“I did not build this organization and get here on my own. I’m very grateful for the people who supported me,” Montgomery told Above the Law. “I would not be here without the support of others who have already made it, and others in the legal field who really see the need for increased organizational presence in diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Montgomery about her work with Barrier Breakers, as well as the second annual Break Into Law Conference, which is set to take place virtually on July 8-9. Here is a (lightly edited and condensed) write-up of our lively conversation.

Staci Zaretsky (SZ): How did you get into admissions work?

Sydney Montgomery (SM): I actually started with advising and the like when I was still in law school. I was really fascinated by admissions work because of the monumental changes I experienced by virtue of attending the schools that I did. Going to Princeton radically changed my life. It changed the trajectory that I was on. And going to Harvard Law School, likewise, really changed my life, and will change my kids’ lives, and my grandkids’ lives. Statistically, students from lower income and socioeconomic backgrounds actually have the highest jump in upward mobility when going to selective schools. And I know that where you go is not going to be all and end all of those great things, but for students of color, for low income students, it does have a larger impact on upward mobility and generational wealth.

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I eventually realized that there just weren’t a lot of people in the space that looked like me, especially when it came to law school consulting. Getting to put people who look like me on the right path is what made me decide to pivot to consulting full time, and being able to transform that into a nonprofit with Barrier Breakers has been a lot of work, but such rewarding work, because I’ve always wanted to continue to focus and specialize on first gen minority students through this process.

Because of our collaboration with universities and other organizations, such as the Law School Admission Council, Barrier Breakers will have helped over 7,000 BIPOC and marginalized students in their higher education pursuits by the end of 2023. I think it’s something that I’m probably the most proud of.

SZ: Since you mentioned Barrier Breakers, can you please tell our me a bit more about the organization, and what you do?

SM: We’re a 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to increase access to and success in higher education for first gen and other marginalized students, fairly broadly, because marginalized students come in all shapes and sizes.

We’re not just working on admissions, but we’re continuing to develop programs that increase success in higher education. We do a lot of mindfulness work with our students, whether that’s prayer, whether that’s helping them access meditation resources, stress reducing resources, figuring out ways that we can be supportive, connecting them to mental health resources. Sometimes that might even look like helping them see who’s an in-network provider or looking at their insurance for them. A lot of our students do have undiagnosed learning differences. And so we do a lot of work to help our students access the accommodations that they might need in various forms, not just for the LSAT exam or the bar exam, but even at school and finding those resources.

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We provide mentorship to all of our students when they’re in law school, so that they are near peer mentors, so that they have someone who they can reach out to. And then we have a very large student and alumni platform. All the students that have gone through our program can be connected across geographies or across interest areas or affinity groups so they can always feel like they’re in community.

SZ: Please tell me about the Break Into Law Conference. I know this is the second year and I would love to hear more about it.

SM: The Break Into Law Conference is a Barrier Breakers cornerstone event of the year. Like you said, it’s our second year — it’s so much bigger than last year, and we’re really excited. Last year, we had over 600 attendees, which is wild, and this year, we’re expecting somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 attendees virtually. It’s a free and virtual conference, which I think makes a big difference, because students can access it from wherever they have the internet, on their phone or on their computer.

This year, there are a variety of panels, all filled with panelists of color, Black indigenous people of color. Panels range from things like, Keys to a Successful Law School Application, Conquering the LSAT Exam, and Being Able to Finance Legal Education, to things like Surviving Your First Year. On top of that, we’ve got panels like Understanding Federal Clerkships, Sports Law, IP Law, Being a Government Attorney, Being a Public Interest Attorney, Faith and the Legal Profession. We even have a panel this year on The Future of Legal Education as it relates to things like affirmative action and AI.

We think it’s very important for people to be able to see the professions that they can go into. It’s hard enough trying to apply to law school when you’re the first in your family as I was, but you don’t really know the different professions and different options out there. I wanted an event where you could see a Black federal judge, a Black law professor, a Black partner at a law firm, or a Black lawyer with their own firm.

“You have to be able to see the future before you can fully imagine it.”

SZ:  What else can attendees look forward to at the conference?

SM: We’ll be having a law school fair on Saturday. We have well over 30 law schools that have already signed up. Law schools from all over the country, from top tier schools to more regional law schools, really putting their commitment to diversity into action and being open to speaking with students, which we think is fantastic. I’ll also mention that we have two workshops run by the Law School Admission Council, one for current law school students on Saturday to help them with their strengths, and how their professional strengths will translate into the workplace, and one for applicants on Sunday.

I’m also thrilled about our career fair — we actually has both law firms and public interest organizations coming in. What I am really excited about is the opportunity for upward mobility that we can create at this conference. Because for a student that might go to a lesser known, more regional law school getting a top firm like Weil to notice them, it’s really something. That student doesn’t necessarily have the same opportunities that another person from a top 14 law school would have to get in front of those big New York law firms. But at this conference, they will. Wanting to see people for people, and not just people for their pedigree, is one of the big things that we’re trying to have happen at this conference.

SZ: What do you hope students will get out of the conference? What has the response been like so far?

SM: I really want students to know that there is success at every single step of their journey here. And to know someone at every single step of their journey, even if they’re just thinking about law school, it’s not too early to know a judge. It’s not too early to know a law professor or a dean and to imagine that you could be a dean too. I think there are still so few women of color, people of color, in general, in higher education that I think it’s important to see that there are people out here that are rooting for you.

At this conference, it doesn’t matter what school you go to, you can meet with a diversity recruiter and they will listen to you, and we can’t promise anything, but it’s an opportunity that probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I’m hoping people get jobs out of this conference. I’m hoping people say, “You know what, if it weren’t for Break Into Law, I wouldn’t have landed this summer associate position, or I wouldn’t have gotten this job after law school. And now my life has changed. And I can remember that, and think about that as I hire in the future.”

We had so many people send us thank you messages after the conference just saying, “I felt seen. I felt heard. I felt like I could actually reach out to these people. And they reached back out to me and I felt supported.” And that’s what we want for the conference. We are also blessed because thanks to our sponsors’ generous support, we will be giving up to $3,000 away in scholarships. Attendees will be entered into raffles to win scholarships, which they can use on either their application costs or they can use it on tuition.

SZ: Who is the ideal candidate to attend this conference? Who would derive the most benefit from attending?

SM: Oh, that’s a good question. When I think about the ideal candidate for this conference, I think there’s two. I would like to have one, but I’m pretty sure there’s two. There is the student that is looking to apply to law school and they’ve been overwhelmed with information online and they’re not sure how to get started. I think this would be a perfect opportunity for that student. Not only can you potentially get some scholarship money, but I think they’ll have a better understanding of their career options, which will better help them develop their reasons for going to law school. It’ll make them a stronger applicant. They’ll be able to understand the finances of law school and meet with law schools themselves.

The second person maybe just finished their first year of law school, maybe from a mid-ranked, or regional law school, who is really looking to figure out their future — they have big dreams, and they’re trying to figure out how to accomplish their goals. For the student that is trying to maximize their opportunities, to get their foot in the door, to get a seat at the table as we’re all trying to do, they absolutely need to be here.

SZ: Is there anything else that you want people to know about this conference? I want people to get as excited about it as you are.

SM: Yes, absolutely. I have sometimes been asked by my colleagues, “I would love to go and support, but I’m not a person of color. Is this for me? Should I maybe not go?” We’re not exclusionary. We have an eye towards supporting first gen and minority students, but that doesn’t mean that if you don’t fall into one of those categories, you can’t come and lend support.

We also have lots of opportunities available. We have lots of opportunities to donate to sponsor a law student, through either their legal application journey or their law school journey, or to help us increase the amount of scholarships that we’re able to give. We’re still looking for corporate sponsorship. And so if you’re a firm or an employer of legal talent and you want to get in front of diverse applicants, this is definitely an opportunity for you to come and sponsor our organization, be at this career fair, meet these amazing people who have amazing stories, but then also just to support us in general, as we build this mission, because it really does take a village. We are very happy for people that want to partner and journey along with us as we hope to build a better legal future.

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Law schools that will be in attendance at this year’s Break Into Law Conference include (in alphabetical order): Baylor Law; Duke University; Florida State University; Georgia State University; Harvard Law School; John Marshall Law School; Lewis & Clark Law School; Loyola Marymount University; LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center; McGeorge School of the Pacific; Michigan State University; Northeastern; Penn Carey Law; Roger Williams; Seattle University; St. John’s; Stanford University; Stetson Law; Syracuse University; UC Berkeley; UCLA; UConn; University of Chicago; University of Hawaii; University of Kansas; University of Louisville; University of Maine; University of Michigan; University of New Hampshire; University of Notre Dame; University of Tennessee; University of Tulsa; University of Wisconsin; UT Austin; Washington and Lee University; WashU; Wayne State University; William & Mary; and Yale Law.

As Montgomery noted during our conversation, “We’re very grateful for our generous firm sponsors and the support that they’ve been able to give.” If you’re interested, more sponsorship opportunities are still available. Thus far, this year’s law firm and corporate sponsors for the Break Into Law Conference include (in alphabetical order) Angela Vorpahl, Law School Master Plan; BernsteinShur; Brooks Kushman; Godfrey & Kahn, S.C; Haynes and Boone; Knobbe Martens; Law School Toolbox; Paul Weiss; Polisnelli Law Firm; Robinson Bradshaw; Stoel Rives; Summer Associate Hub; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP;

If you’d like to learn more about sponsorship opportunities for the Break Into  Law Conference, please click here. If you’re interested in attending the Break Into Law Conference, please click here. For those unable to attend in real time, the Break Into Law Conference will be recorded, but scholarship entries will be reserved for those who attend live.

Disclosure: Above the Law is a media partner of the Break Into Law Conference.

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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