Esq. Apprentice

Rachel Johnson-Farias, Founder & Executive Director

Economic Mobility

Esq Apprentice logo

Esq. Apprentice gives low-income women of color the tools and support they need to become attorneys. With paid legal employment and a culturally responsive curriculum, we’re building economic security for impoverished women, families, and communities across California.

Esq. Apprentice gives women of color the tools, support, and resources they need to complete California’s legal apprenticeship program and become attorneys. As the nation’s only program utilizing legal apprenticeship to help women from low-income communities gain access to legal jobs and careers without debt, we are building a movement of women lawyers working for a more just legal system.

Esq. Apprentice works with community law firms to secure paid legal employment for a debt-free route to law licensing and offers a culturally responsive coaching model that is designed to meet apprentices at the intersections of gender, race, and class.

Black women are significantly more likely to be employed than other demographics of women, yet still experience higher rates of unemployment, lower wages, less access to work-family supports, and less access to advancement opportunities. In our unjust legal system, they are 2x more likely to be imprisoned than white women. They – and all women of color – make up less than 2% of equity partners in United States law firms.

Rachel Johnson-Farias

Rachel Johnson-Farias

Founder and Executive Director

FY24 Catalyze EM 16 organizations
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