Minority Mentoring Picnic scheduled for October 21.

Where can law students chat with a Supreme Court justice, feast on roasted pig, dance to Caribbean music, swat volleyballs over a net, toss footballs, and leave with the names of lawyers and judges as willing mentors?

At the Third Annual Minority Mentoring Picnic on October 21, at Amelia Earhart Park at 401 E. 65th Street in Hialeah.

Beginning at noon, legal luminaries will shed their suits and robes, get comfortable in shorts and T-shirts, in a fun event billed as an opportunity to celebrate and encourage diversity in the legal profession.

The picnic is an opportunity for every minority law student in the state of Florida to be paired with at least one judge or lawyer as a mentor.

"Lawyering, in many significant regards, is based upon relationships," said John Kozyak, the organizer of the event and partner at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Miami.

"This picnic is about promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal marketplace, by making sure minority students are supported early on and given opportunities to create these relationships."

Don't be surprised to see top-flight lawyers hovered over a roasting pig on a fire pit for hours, stirring a big pot of paella, dishing up arroz con pollo, and adding zesty spice to jerk chicken.

Many federal and state judges, including Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince, have already committed to attend this year's picnic.

All lawyers, judges, faculty, and minority law students are encouraged to attend.

Stetson University College of Law is sending a 50-person bus with black, Hispanic, and women law students, and similar efforts are being made at other law schools throughout Florida.

If last year's picnic is any indication, there should be a thousand picnickers who are a veritable who's who list of Florida's legal elite mingling with minority law students from all over the state. Ready to engage students in conversations were at least 50 judges and about 450 lawyers (and their families), including law school...