Leo Trujillo-Cox

Executive Director of Academic Outreach & Development
Associate Director of Admissions & Recruitment
Instructor, Law Fellows Program

  • B.A. Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley, 1991
  • B.A. Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1991
  • J.D. UCLA, 1997

Leo Trujillo-Cox is Executive Director of Academic Outreach & Development and Associate Director of Admissions for UCLA School of Law.  He began his tenure at UCLA Law in 1997, after earning B.A. degrees in political science and ethnic studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a J. D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Mr. Trujillo-Cox’s commitment to ensuring academic equity, educational access, and excellence in legal education led him to found the Academic Outreach Resource Center at UCLA Law.  The center seeks to produce graduates who will be at the forefront of  leadership, capable of working across social lines, and able to further meaningful democratic values in an increasingly complex and multi-cultural world. The center focuses on aggressively and imaginatively engaging in a wide variety of outreach initiatives designed to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to apply to and attend law school.

Best known for its groundbreaking Law Fellows Program, the center is a leader in addressing law school pipeline issues. Now in its 17th year, the Law Fellows Program is nationally recognized as one of the most comprehensive and innovative pipeline-building initiatives in legal education. With Mr. Trujillo-Cox as program instructor, Law Fellows engages high-potential undergraduates and recent graduates from diverse backgrounds in academic and career programming designed to increase their competitiveness for admission to law school, demystify legal education, and facilitate entry into the profession.

Close to 1,400 students from dozens of undergraduate institutions are participating in this multi-year program. To date, almost 600 Fellows have either completed law school or are currently enrolled at more than 60 law schools across the country. Over 300 Fellows have or are attending California law schools. Law Fellows have received positions with many prestigious organizations across the country. Scores of other Fellows have gone on to succeed in an impressive array of academic and career endeavors.

In just this past year, the program was chosen by the Mexican American Bar Association to receive the Justice Cruz Reynoso Community Service Award, and received the America Bar Association’s Alexander Award. In addition to these honors, this year the program had expanded to California's Central Valley and Mr. Trujillo-Cox was awarded the Trailblazer Award by For People of Color, Inc.

Mr. Trujillo-Cox has served the Law School Admission Council as a member of the Minority Affairs Subcommittee on New Initiatives, the Pipeline Models Conference Planning Committee, the Diversity Committee, and as Chair of the Latino Issues Subcommittee.  In 2001 and again in 2014, the UCLA La Raza Student Association named him “Alumnus of the Year.”  He has also served as a founding board member of a Los Angeles public charter school which educates K–8 students through an arts and music based curriculum, emphasizing academic excellence, diversity, and ecological and social responsibility. He served as Vice President of the Board of Trustees for five years.