Clifford Chance, a leading law firm that specializes in commercial activity, announced Saturday its joint effort with the Law Center to establish the Clifford Chance International Public Interest Summer Fellowship Program.
The Clifford Chance Fellowships will provide 15 first-year Georgetown Law students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds with the opportunity to intern with international non-governmental and governmental organizations in the District. The fellows will be selected from a highly competitive applicant pool by an advisory committee, comprised of two representatives from Clifford Chance, as well as Georgetown University faculty and Georgetown Law Center administrators.
“As a leading international law school and one based in D.C., Clifford Chance has wanted to partner with Georgetown University Law Center to raise our profile among the student population and support the international nonprofit legal community in a meaningful way,” Ashley Hill, Clifford Chance spokesperson, said. “We are looking for academically driven students, many of whom may be from a diverse background and who are interested in spending a summer pursuing a public interest internship in one of the numerous international cities where Clifford Chance has a strong presence.”
In a Clifford Chance press release last week, several Clifford Chance executives set forth the rationale behind the Clifford Chance Fellowships.
“Establishing the Clifford Chance International Public Interest Summer Fellowship Program with Georgetown underscores our firm’s belief in the importance of providing a means for students to use their legal expertise to help meet the needs of the underserved, not just in their own back- yards, but around the world,” said Brian Hoffmann, co-head of Clifford Chance’s U.S. Mergers and acquisition practice and member of the fellowship advisory committee.
This idea of training more students to serve within their community was reinforced by Juan Morillo, a litigation partner in Clifford Chance’s D.C. practice and also a member of the fellowship advisory committee.
“Our partnership with Georgetown is yet another example of our desire to broaden the pool of diverse legal talent in this country. We firmly believe it is essential that law students from all socioeconomic backgrounds have the chance to have a meaningful summer internship experience, which will enable them to become better lawyers in service to our clients and the community,” Morillo said in a press release.
Georgetown Law Center Dean Alexander Aleinikoff was grateful to the company for sponsoring the fellowship program.
“The firm’s generous gift will allow talented Georgetown Law students to pursue international public interest opportunities and will also reinforce our deep commitment to global legal education,” he said.
The Clifford Chance Fellowships demonstrates the firm’s dedication to working with law schools around the country to promote diversity in the field. Their previous projects include the AnBryce Program at the New York University School of Law, and an annual faculty research and lecture series at Columbia University Law School on the topic of diversity within the legal community.
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