Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has committed almost $10m (£5.07m) to a new programme backing students from minority backgrounds to address what the
New York heavyweight called a "persistent lack of diversity" in the legal profession, writes the
New York Law Journal.
Skadden – the top-grossing firm on the Am Law 100 – will commit $9.6m (£4.87m) over the next decade toward an honours programme designed to encourage and support minority students at the City College of New York to become attorneys.
The scheme is set to begin on the 14,000-student Harlem campus in the autumn and will eventually involve 100 juniors and seniors in a two-year curriculum of course work and seminars to complement the school's range of undergraduate academic majors.
Skadden senior partner Joseph Flom (pictured) said the firm decided "to go big time" six months ago when a committee of partners was formed to contemplate a public interest initiative to celebrate the firm's 60th anniversary.
Through his family's private foundation, Flom has long been involved with City College, which is among the most racially and ethnically diverse campuses in the US.
Flom said supporting one or two minority students at a time meant "they don't have a peer study group to reinforce each other”, adding: "The main thing is to create a pipeline for minorities available for law firms to hire."
City College president Gregory Williams said the programme represented a natural addition to the school's 160-year tradition of educating poor and working-class students and "not only giving them access to the American dream but also bringing their talents to every area of American society".
The new honours programme at City College follows the firm’s Fellowship Foundation, established in 1988 to commemorate Skadden’s 40th anniversary. To date under the fellowship programme, two-year public service salaries have been underwritten by the firm for 536 law school graduates.
In addition to curricular work, the City College honors program includes financial assistance based on need and merit, LSAT preparation, counseling during transition from City College to law school, mentoring by Skadden lawyers and others and paid summer internships at major law firms, corporations and public interest organizations nationwide.
The honors program also will include dormitory rooms for out-of-town applicants and an endowed professorship to oversee the programme.
Flom added: “It's all a work in progress. They can name [the professorship] after me or whoever they want.”
The New York Law Journal is a US sister title of Legal Week.
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