Barrier Breakers and the HNBA/VIA Intellectual Property Law Institute (IPLI) will receive the American Bar Association Council for Diversity in the Educational Pipeline's Alexander Awards during the Titans for Change Gala at the 2027 ABA Midyear Meeting Jan. 30, 2027, in Chicago.
The Alexander Awards for Excellence in the Pipeline Diversity recognize individuals and organizations demonstrating exceptional leadership in expanding educational pathways for underrepresented students and supporting success from education through law school and into the profession.
Named after legal pioneers Raymond Pace Alexander, the first African American graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and later a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the United States and the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the awards celebrate excellence in advancing access and opportunity within the legal profession.
Barrier Breakers, Inc. is a national economic-mobility program that uses higher education — and, most distinctively, the pathway into law — as the lever to move first-generation, low-income and other underrepresented students from tenth grade through college, professional school and into high-impact careers. The pipeline spans four connected segments: pre-college preparation (10th grade onward); undergraduate admissions and persistence; graduate and professional-school admissions (with a dedicated law school arm); and career entry. Building on a platform its founder has run since 2012 and incorporated as a nonprofit in 2021, Barrier Breakers has supported more than 7,000 students and helped unlock over $490 million in scholarship aid, with a 95% law school acceptance rate and a network reaching 36 states and six countries.
Founded in 2013 through a visionary partnership between the HNBA and Microsoft, HNBA/VIA Intellectual Property Law Institute was created to address a longstanding diversity gap within intellectual property, technology, media and innovation law. Recognizing that Hispanic attorneys and other historically underrepresented groups remained significantly underrepresented in some of the profession's fastest growing and most influential practice areas, IPLI was intentionally designed as a pipeline initiative that would connect talented students with the education, mentorship, sponsorship and professional networks necessary to succeed in law school and thrive in legal careers. Over nearly 15 years, IPLI has become one of the nation's premier diversity pipeline programs in intellectual property and technology law and a model for how intentional investment can create lasting change within the legal profession.
The “Titans for Change Gala: Celebrating Excellence, Impact and Pathways to the Profession,” which celebrates the achievements of some of the most innovative and impactful pathway programs in the country and raises support for the next generation of students pursuing legal careers, will unite the Alexander Award with the Spirit of Excellence Award, presented by the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, and the Impacto Award, presented by the ABA Commission on Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, in a collective celebration of excellence and leadership.
The Alexander Awards for Excellence in the Pipeline Diversity recognize individuals and organizations demonstrating exceptional leadership in expanding educational pathways for underrepresented students and supporting success from education through law school and into the profession.
Named after legal pioneers Raymond Pace Alexander, the first African American graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and later a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the United States and the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the awards celebrate excellence in advancing access and opportunity within the legal profession.
Barrier Breakers, Inc. is a national economic-mobility program that uses higher education — and, most distinctively, the pathway into law — as the lever to move first-generation, low-income and other underrepresented students from tenth grade through college, professional school and into high-impact careers. The pipeline spans four connected segments: pre-college preparation (10th grade onward); undergraduate admissions and persistence; graduate and professional-school admissions (with a dedicated law school arm); and career entry. Building on a platform its founder has run since 2012 and incorporated as a nonprofit in 2021, Barrier Breakers has supported more than 7,000 students and helped unlock over $490 million in scholarship aid, with a 95% law school acceptance rate and a network reaching 36 states and six countries.
Founded in 2013 through a visionary partnership between the HNBA and Microsoft, HNBA/VIA Intellectual Property Law Institute was created to address a longstanding diversity gap within intellectual property, technology, media and innovation law. Recognizing that Hispanic attorneys and other historically underrepresented groups remained significantly underrepresented in some of the profession's fastest growing and most influential practice areas, IPLI was intentionally designed as a pipeline initiative that would connect talented students with the education, mentorship, sponsorship and professional networks necessary to succeed in law school and thrive in legal careers. Over nearly 15 years, IPLI has become one of the nation's premier diversity pipeline programs in intellectual property and technology law and a model for how intentional investment can create lasting change within the legal profession.
The “Titans for Change Gala: Celebrating Excellence, Impact and Pathways to the Profession,” which celebrates the achievements of some of the most innovative and impactful pathway programs in the country and raises support for the next generation of students pursuing legal careers, will unite the Alexander Award with the Spirit of Excellence Award, presented by the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, and the Impacto Award, presented by the ABA Commission on Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, in a collective celebration of excellence and leadership.
