CHICAGO – The school principal has a law degree. There are field trips to law firms. And a biology class is inspired by the science of crime scene investigations.

That’s part of the formula at Legal Prep Charter Academies, a new Chicago charter school whose founders hope to increase diversity in the legal profession.

The high school in the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood opened this year with support from Chicago’s legal profession. It’s the city’s first high school with a legal theme. Sam Finkelstein and Rather Stanton, the two attorneys who founded the school, told the Chicago Tribune it took three years of unpaid 60-hour weeks to make their dream real.