CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - BostonChron -- Evangeline M. Mitchell, a devoted champion for greater access, diversity, and inclusion in legal education and in the legal profession, was recently named as one of three honorees to receive the CLEO EDGE Honors Award. CLEO, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to diversifying the legal profession by expanding legal education opportunities for persons from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, low-income, and disadvantaged communities.

CLEO created the CLEO EDGE Honors Awards to promote its focus on the three pillars or characteristics which undergird the organization's purpose and in recognition of its 50^th anniversary. Those pillars are Education, Diversity, and Greater Equality. According to Leigh Allen, II, Interim Chief Executive Officer of CLEO, "The Awards are our way of acknowledging and celebrating the achievements of individuals, law schools, and organizations that have positively impacted education, the legal profession, and society, in general. This year's distinguished honorees have each made notable contributions that exemplify what it means to be an EDGE award recipient and we are beyond proud to recognize them!"

Evangeline M. Mitchell, Esq., Ed.M. has been chosen as the 2021 CLEO EDGE Education Award honoree.  Mitchell, founder and organizer of the National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair, the National HBCU Pre-Law Summit and Law Expo, and the Future Legal Eagles Flight School, has passionately executed high-quality, impactful programming and initiatives dedicated to growing the number of Black competitive, strategic, and community-minded law school applicants, law students, lawyers, and leaders. She has been in the trenches doing this grassroots outreach and empowerment work for nearly two decades.

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Attorney Mitchell has also authored, edited, and published several books including The African American Law School Survival Guide, Conquering the Bar Exam, and Lessons from Successful African American Lawyers, and made them available free of charge to thousands of aspiring lawyers. She has also partnered with the National Bar Association and National Black Law Students Association to match hundreds of Black pre-law students with law student and lawyer mentors. Further, she has created informational websites and social media groups for pre-law students to gain information and community. Her work has impacted thousands. Furthermore, she is an award-winning documentary filmmaker having won awards nationally and internationally. Her film Becoming Black Lawyers is currently on the film festival circuit and she is planning to utilize it as a tool to help discuss difficult diversity, equity, and inclusion issues at law schools in the U.S. and abroad. She is also currently planning to produce several other law-related documentaries to build a body of work centering the lived experiences and legacies of Black law students and lawyers.

Mitchell has dedicated her life's work to identifying voids and making unique contributions to legal education and the profession, especially regarding African Americans. She is a graduate of HBCU Prairie View A&M University, the University of Iowa College of Law, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

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In acknowledging this recognition, Attorney Mitchell said, "I am extraordinarily honored to receive this award from CLEO. To be recognized by an organization consistently doing this tough, but deeply meaningful and significant work, and that is firmly committed at its core to helping historically excluded groups gain access to and prepare to succeed in law school and the legal profession means the world to me. I am grateful for this award but even more grateful for the impact that CLEO has made for more than five decades–and what it continues to do to increase the numbers of underrepresented lawyers who can help ensure equity and justice for all. I am devoted to fighting the good fight and stand with and will continue to support CLEO in its important mission."

Mitchell, along with fellow award recipients Attorney Yolanda Hawkins-Bautista, and Attorney Cuong Quy Huynh, was recently publicly honored during the CLEO EDGE Virtual Honors Reception. For more information about the CLEO EDGE Awards, please visit https://cleoinc.org/edgeawards/. To learn more about CLEO's pre-law programs, please visit their website at https://cleoinc.org/.