OUTLaw Secretary Colleen Collins, left, with fellow SMU Dedman School of Law students Jason and Hannah

Dedman School of Law’s OUTLaw group offers resources for law students, faculty

It’s no secret that LGBTQ people can face unique problems and hurdles, in both educational and workplace environments, that non-LGBTQ folks don’t have to deal with. Affinity groups and employee resource groups can help alleviate some of those hurdles. And for LGBTQ faculty and students at SMU’s Dedman School of Law, that’s where OUTLaw comes in.

Colleen Collins, a student at the Dedman School of Law and secretary for OUTLaw, answered a few questions this week about the organization and its purpose.

— Tammye Nash

Dallas Voice: What is OUTLaw and when was it created? Colleen Collins: OUTLaw is our LGBTQ+ student group at SMU Dedman School of Law. It is created for LGBTQ-identifying individuals and allies. We think it was founded sometime after the year 2000, but due to a gap in programming, we are trying to connect with prior alumni to make connections with prior OUTLaw Members.

Who is in charge, and how is the leadership chosen? Our group has a student executive board and two faculty advisors. We have six students that run our executive board as well as four 1L representatives. Our modern constitution was written after the gap in programming and states that the leadership is chosen by voting by OUTLaw members. Current officers are President Alex Guerrero; Vice President Matthew Gamboa-Lutz; Secretary Colleen Collins; Treasurer Richard Friedl; Social Media Director Hannah Ali Grant and Director of OUTReach Doug Brown.

About how many people participate in OUTLaw? Who can join, and how does one go about joining? We have a roster of about 60 members, and we have about 15 to 20 people who are very active. Any ally or LGBTQ-identifying individual can join, and it is super easy to join. All you must do is sign up on our Student Organizaiton’s Connect page or contact one of our executive board members to join. We have no membership fee, so it is completely free to join.

What is OUTLaw’s primary focus? OUTLaw works to enrich the SMU Dedman School of Law community by providing educational programs open to the entire student body, career-related events linking students with the local Dallas legal community and social and small group events both on and off campus.

OUTlaw promotes equality, enlightenment and advocacy. We are trying to promote and show that there is an accepting community, both on campus and in the legal field.

I read online that OUTLaw holds educational programs open to the entire SMU student body. What are some of the programs the group has offered?

Which programs seem to be most popular? We have offered a few educational programs this past year to our student body in partnership with other student organizations. A few that we have offered with other student groups are “Reflections: Realities of Being ‘The Diversity Hire,’” and a judicial clerkship program.

Judge Tonya Parker was the representative that OUTLaw asked to come for the Diversity Hire program, and she spoke among other diverse women about her experiences. We are also offering an LGBTQ-focused allyship training this semester for our diversity week programming.

How does OUTLaw work to connect SMU’s students with the local legal community? We have been working on this a lot this past school year. We have partnered with Legal Aid of Texas, have members that volunteer for Equality Texas, have attended legal-oriented happy hours hosted by the Dallas LGBT Bar Association, and have had legal professionals come speak to our student body.

What are some of the benefits OUTLaw offers to law students and/or the local legal community? Are there benefits to membership for those not in the legal profession? OUTLaw offers a community of like-minded individuals to do law school along-side. OUTLaw also offers educational opportunities, opportunities to get together as a group and bond and opportunities to connect with current practicing lawyers. We are also trying to build an outline bank to help our current students and build an alumni network to benefit our current members. We are not an organization aimed towards membership outside the legal profession, but we welcome any support from all realms.

What else do people need to know about OUTLaw? It is truly remarkable what community can do, and this community has a tight, close-knit bond and has really made some important strides to improve our campus in every way we can. We envision a future where LGBTQ+ lawyers feel comfortable representing our community.

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