The Chicago high school that's training more blacks to study law

It was the first day of school, and Jamaurion Leverston was glad to be back. He spent much of the summer indoors - a conscious decision to protect a precious opportunity by avoiding trouble in his neighbourhood.

"I can't afford to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," he says. "Not when I'm so close to making something of myself."

Leverston, 17, is in his final year at Legal Prep Charter Academy in Chicago, the only legal-themed high school in the US state of Illinois and one of few in the nation. Three years ago, it opened its doors with about 150 students in one of the city's bleakest neighbourhoods. Its mission: to attract more minorities to the legal profession and give them the tools to build better lives.

The inaugural class is beginning its final year, and 81 students who started three years ago remain. That class also includes 14 transfer students. They are joined by three other classes of students for a total enrolment of about 300 - virtually all of them black - who are accepting strict disciplinary standards and rigorous classes that emphasise critical thinking, written and oral communication.

Encouraging signs include enrolment gains and the expansion of extracurricular activities and "advanced placement" classes.

But co-founders Rather Stanton and Sam Finkelstein say they will not declare victory until every student has been accepted to university - and graduates.