For Immediate Release
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CONTACT: Patricia Morgan
State Bar of Wisconsin
1-800-444-9404, ext. 6107 |
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First-year law students participate in minority clerkship
program
June 16, 2000 - Nineteen first-year law students
will gain valuable legal experience this summer as participants in the
State Bar of Wisconsin's minority clerkship program. The program
promotes minority placements in settings where minorities traditionally
have been under-represented.
This year, three students from Marquette Law School and 16 from
UW-Madison Law School have been matched with law firms, corporate legal
departments, and governmental agencies.
"We're very excited about the caliber of the students participating
in this year's clerkship program," says Cory Nettles, chair of the State
Bar's Committee to Encourage Placement of Minority Lawyers.
This year's employer roster includes new as well as returning
organizations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. Nettles notes, "In
addition to our regular cast of first-rate employers, this year we're
pleased to welcome Quarles & Brady LLC's Chicago office as well as
the Minneapolis office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP to the
program."
According to Nettles, the committee is always working to increase the
number of clerkship opportunities for minority first-year law students
and expand and round out the number and types of employers in the
program. "This year," he says, "we're delighted to welcome the Madison
City Attorney's Office and Habush, Habush, Davis & Rottier as new
participants and two returning employers, Law Offices Stilp & Cotton
and Hinshaw & Culbertson."
"Our list of participating employers is impressive," says Nettles.
"The clerkship program has been wonderfully successful, and we thank all
the participating organizations for making diversity a priority."
Quarles & Brady LLP, a staunch supporter of diversity efforts in
the legal profession, has participated in the bar's clerkship program
since its inception. Recruiting committee chair James D Friedman notes:
"Quarles & Brady LLP is pleased to continue its long-standing
support of the State Bar's Minority Clerkship program. We're honored to
be the first employer to commit to placing a State Bar clerk outside of
Wisconsin, in the Chicago office of Quarles & Brady LLP.
"The State Bar program continues to play a very important role in our
diversity initiatives. With the bar program's two clerk participants, 25
percent of our summer associate class is composed of minority law
students."
Participating employers include: American Family Insurance; Boardman,
Suhr, Curry & Field; DeWitt Ross & Stevens SC; Foley &
Lardner, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Madison City Attorney's
Office; Stafford Rosenbaum LLP; Wisconsin Department of Justice; Godfrey
& Kahn SC; Habush, Habush, Davis & Rottier; Hinshaw &
Culbertson; Law Offices Stilp & Cotton; Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance Co.; Quarles & Brady; Reinhart, Boerner, Van Deuren,
Norris & Rieselbach, SC; Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek & Robins; and
Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP.
Marquette law students participating in the Summer 2000 Experience
include: Odalo Ohiku, Elaine DeFranco, and Andrew Pham. UW-Madison law
students include: Hassan Allen, Randolph Amaro, Raphael Choi, Heidi
Frechette, Crystal Fu, Owen Herne, Autumn Howell, Anna Hysell, Benjamin
Lockhart, Michael Naranjo, Adam Nathe, Odalo Ohiku, Nilesh Patel, J.
David Pedraza, Juan Ramirez, David Smith, and Jessica Vianes.
For information on the clerkship program, contact Cory Nettles, Quarles & Brady LLP
at (414) 277-5000, or Patricia
Morgan, committee project coordinator, State Bar of Wisconsin at
(608) 250-6107.
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