The fellows and scholars of the inaugural class of the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship Program (LMJ Scholarship Program) have experienced their first summer legal internships and are now in their second year of law school. Named in honor of MCCA's founder and first executive director, the LMJ Scholarship Program was created to prime the diversity pipeline by introducing promising minority law students to established attorneys who are willing to mentor and guide them in their entry into the legal field. The program also helps students meet the often onerous financial demands associated with law school.
Each of the academically outstanding fellows and scholars is sponsored individually through donations from companies such as Microsoft Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, and Wheel, Trigg, & Kennedy LLP. In addition to an invitation for a paid summer internship in a leading corporate law department and a pre-paid ticket from American Airlines to attend an MCCA® dinner or conference, the 10 corporate fellows receive $10,000 annually for each of their three years of law school, and the eight scholars receive a one-time award of $10,000. All receive MCCA's ongoing professional development support and opportunities to interact with attorneys in the MCCA network.
Not only do each of the fellows and scholars now know the distinct challenges of law school and possess a better understanding of what it entails to be a lawyer, but each member of the diverse group is also that much closer to becoming a young leader in the legal profession. The experiences have given the students an opportunity to build upon their previous leadership positions in minority students associations and their interest in corporate law.
King & Spalding Scholar Nathan Perez
After completing his first year at Harvard University Law School as a King & Spalding Scholar, Nathan Perez spent the summer as an associate at the firm's Atlanta office.
"Harvard is great. It's an old institution and a very special place," says Perez. "But at King & Spalding, I was able to get an actual flavor of the legal profession. Granted, the program was only 10 weeks and I was very inexperienced, but I came out with a much better understanding of what a lawyer does."
"During my first year at law school, King & Spalding was in touch and that was very reassuring," continues Perez. "They asked my ideas on how to better recruit at Harvard, and checked in with me when it was time to make summer employment plans. Their recruiting department was incredibly helpful, introducing me to associate and partner advisors and assisting in my summer housing search-not a small consideration when you have a dog and are looking for a furnished place for just two months."
As a full-time undergraduate economics student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Perez also worked as an insurance agent serving the campus population. In college, he expected to be most interested in business classes, but was surprised when he found himself smitten with criminal law. "It was the class I did best in," says Perez. "And I really liked doing some pro bono work relating to federal drug convictions at King & Spalding over the summer." Perez describes his summer at King & Spalding as exciting, but hectic with its heavy work and social schedule. "I met so many new people that it was sometimes difficult to keep them straight, and these are people that you may be working with in the future, so you need to remember them."
Microsoft Corporation Fellow Maria E. Jones
The summer experience was rather unique for Microsoft Corporation Fellow Maria E. Jones, who spent her break working as a legal intern at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash. "It's a big company with its own culture and style; employees wear shorts and sandals, are passionate about their work, and have fun doing it."
As a legal intern, Jones was placed in the Entertainment and Devices Division, where she provided legal support for XBox 360, game distribution, and other Microsoft products. Over the weeks, Jones gained experience in employment law, copyright issues, contract drafting, and mergers and acquisitions. Jones was also given the formidable challenge of analyzing legal issues for emerging markets, and creating an intranet site to share results with legal and business people in the retail channel across the globe. "The work was intense and challenging, and I learned what it's like to practice law in the real world by working closely with clients, attorneys, and paralegals," says Jones.
Microsoft's legal interns are all first-year law students who are given customized training in intellectual property, antitrust, and business law. They are also matched with an attorney who mentors them throughout their 10-to-12 week summer stay. "Maria was an incredible performer this past summer, and she proved she could quickly ramp up to handle the fast pace of Microsoft," explains Sandy Brown, attorney and manager of Microsoft's legal intern program.
Beyond the work, there were key networking opportunities over the summer, including a barbeque for legal and research interns held at Bill Gates' home, where Jones was introduced to the chairman of Microsoft and given a moment to personally speak with him. It's an opportunity she will not forget. "How many other law students can say they worked at Microsoft and met Bill Gates?"
As she enters her second year of law school at the University of California-Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, Jones believes her summer experience opened her eyes to how much more there is to learn. "The Microsoft intern program did a great job of exposing us to many areas of law, but I'm sure I could work here for a few years and continue to learn more," says Jones.
Jones, whose ethnic heritage is a mixture of Native American (Blackfeet), Mexican, and African American, lived on a reservation in Montana until she reached high school age, when her mother moved the family off the reservation to a better school district. In high school and at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., Jones excelled in academics and track and field and earned a bachelor's degree in education. After receiving a master's degree in education from the University of California at Berkeley, Jones considered a career in coaching or as an agent for professional athletes, but decided instead to pursue a law degree.
Coincidentally, Lloyd Johnson also went to the University of California, Hastings College of Law and has become a professional mentor to Jones. "I call two people when good or bad things happen, my mother and Lloyd," says Jones. "More than a mentor, he's a life coach with a holistic approach to mentoring, which allows me to achieve balance in my life."
Microsoft is the biggest supporter of the LMJ Scholarship Program, with two fellows in addition to Jones who completed internships with other companies. Microsoft views the LMJ Scholarship Program as an important opportunity to diversify the profession. According to Mary Snapp, Microsoft corporate vice president, deputy general counsel and executive member of the selection committee for the LMJ Scholarship Program, "Corporate legal departments, along with law firms, should take responsibility for promoting pipeline efforts. We see this as a long-term investment in each fellow that we sponsor."
Microsoft Corporation Fellow Steve Franco
Another Microsoft fellow, Steve Franco, was a summer associate at General Electric in Danbury, Conn., and now, like Maria Jones, is in his second year at the University of California-Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. "The LMJ Scholarship Program has served as a compass for me, guiding me across a legal terrain which was totally unknown to me only a year ago," says Franco. "I had no idea of the multiple layers an attorney needs to consistently leverage to be successful in this profession, and MCCA has taught me that."
Franco, who was born in San Francisco, Calif., but spent his early childhood in war-torn El Salvador before returning again to the Bay Area, is overwhelmingly grateful for the scholarship as well as the entire experience. Franco is so appreciative that he recently made a monetary donation to the association from his summer earnings in the hope that by giving back, he will be able to help someone else in need.
"I'm very conscious of what MCCA has done for me and others in terms of scholarship money, networking opportunities, and summer internships," says Franco. "It's important for me to give something back."
Not only is Franco a Microsoft fellow, one of his college-age brothers was an intern at Microsoft over the summer, and the other is a Gates Millennium Scholar at University of California Berkeley. Understandably, Franco's mother keeps a photo of Bill Gates on her refrigerator.
Adorno & Yoss LLP Scholar Andrea V. Arias
Standardized tests are not Andrea V. Arias' strong suit. In fact, she will tell you that she has one of the lowest LSAT scores of any student at Emory University School of Law, and, before that, one of the lowest SAT scores among undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, at the end of her first year of law school, Arias ranked sixth in her class of 239. She was at the top of her class at Penn as well.
"Some studies say minorities are hurt by standardizing testing," says Arias, the Adorno & Yoss LLP Scholar. "I'm not sure if this is always true, but it is for me. What I do know for certain is that hard work pays off, and I am proof of that. As a minority, I feel a need to represent. I felt it at Penn and I feel it at Emory. Some people will assume that as a Hispanic, I am there because of affirmative action and that I have nothing to contribute. I work to break those barriers by excelling in school and by being a part of the world as much as possible."
Arias was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When she was eight years old, her parents (both accountants) relocated the family to Miami, Fla., in search of opportunity. She stayed in Miami through the end of high school.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Arias majored in political science and English literature, earning her bachelor's degree in three years. In her fourth year, she received a master's degree in political science. Throughout the following year, she worked as a securities litigation paralegal at a firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Time spent dealing with clients and drafting documents solidified her desire to be a lawyer.
"Truly, the MCCA scholarship has been a blessing," says Arias. "Without it, I wouldn't have been able to afford Emory, and there would have been no summer program at Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP. It has broadened my horizons considerably."
Pfizer Inc. Fellow Emily Liu
Last June, Pfizer Inc. Fellow Emily Liu was thrilled to move to New York City and begin her summer internship. After 10 weeks at Pfizer, her enthusiasm remained undimmed.
According to Liu, the pharmaceutical company's summer internship program is very well established: "There were 15 interns, and we worked with various departments receiving assignments from different attorneys. We were also able to request projects that matched our area of interest. I worked with litigation, labor and employment law, and global security. It gave me an excellent opportunity to explore multiple areas of law in a corporate setting."
"Law school is challenging but manageable," say Liu, a second-year student at the University of Michigan Law School. A transfer student, Liu spent her first year at the University of Buffalo Law School. "I'd heard a lot of horror stories, but outside of exams and the lack of feedback throughout the semester, I actually like it. So far, I've tried not to pigeonhole myself at school: I'm interested in both corporate and litigation as well as international law."
Prior to law school, Liu received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ithaca College, where she wrote for the college paper and reported for Ithaca College television's "Newswatch 16." It was through practicing journalism, says Liu, that she developed a desire to attend law school. Meeting people and reporting their stories allowed Liu to see the many ways that the law touches lives. Rather than remaining an objective third party, Liu wants to use a law degree to effect change and to become a resource for others.
At Ithaca, Liu, who is Chinese and Taiwanese, founded the college's ever-growing Asian Culture Club. At the University of Buffalo, she was a member of both the Asian American Law Students Association and the Black Law Students Association (BLSA). As a BLSA member, she successfully competed in the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition.
"Minority associations provide a very valuable mentoring bond," says Liu. "They also demonstrate a commitment to make you feel more comfortable and be more prepared in the law school environment. My positive experiences with MCCA and student minority organizations have shown me why it's so important to give back."
DuPont Company Fellow Tarik Gause
DuPont Company Fellow Tarik Gause is a part-time student at the Georgetown University Law Center, now in his second year of the four-year program. A husband and father of one, Gause is also a full-time research specialist in the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Georgetown was founded as a part-time program," explains Gause. "They work to ensure that their part-time students don't miss out on anything. Many of us are able to do summer internships and clerkships if we're able to work it out with our employers. I'm planning to do that next summer or the summer after my third year."
According to Gause, although law school keeps him incredibly busy-often exhausted-it has been a great experience, he says, because he has learned a lot and has been exposed to an entirely new way of thinking. He attends class weeknights after work and spends his weekends studying. Without his wife, says Gause, it would not be possible.
After earning an undergraduate degree in economics from Howard University, Gause received a master's degree from the Latin American Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (where he met his wife, also a graduate student). For five years, he worked on World Trade Organization, U.S.-Japan and U.S.-Korea trade policy issues in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President.
Regarding what practice area to pursue, Gause is uncertain, but he is definitely attracted to anything with an international focus, especially if he can use it to do business in Latin America. Fluent in Portuguese, Gause has studied in Sao Paolo and worked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His wife, a Japanese national, shares his fondness for South America, and Gause says they would not mind being expatriates in Brazil one day.
At the DuPont Company, Hinton J. Lucas, associate general counsel and chief administrative counsel, says, "We are very pleased with Tarik, and have worked to give him exposure, mentoring, and networking opportunities. Tarik would have been with our legal function all summer if it weren't for his job at the SEC."
Hinton adds, "For a long time, we've been an adamant supporter of the pipeline philosophy, and we see the MCCA scholarship program as another worthwhile facet of that undertaking. We're glad to have been a part of the program since its inception, and foresee continuing to give support."
Kelley Drye Collier Shannon Scholar Ebony A. Smith
Ebony A. Smith made the most of her time as the first Kelley Drye Collier Shannon Scholar. After completing her first year as a full-time Georgetown University Law Center student, she spent the first nine weeks of the summer as a summer associate at Miller & Chevalier Chartered, a law firm in Washington, DC that specializes in tax controversy work and litigation, and for the last five weeks of the summer clerked at Shell Oil Company's law department in Houston, Texas. Unlike some corporate law departments, Shell Oil uses its summer program to access and recruit new hires to its law department and seeks to make offers of employment to qualified second-year summer interns, according to Lance S. Tolson, senior counsel at the company's Houston, Texas U.S. headquarters. During the program, interns are assigned to support at least two of eight disciplines within Shell Oil's legal department, which include litigation, gas and power, regulatory law, and oil products. Tolson does his best to accommodate interns by assigning them to at least one section of particular interest.
Like Tarik Gause, Ebony Smith has more life experience than a lot of the other fellows and scholars. After earning a degree in finance from Howard University, Smith worked for three years as an associate in the institutional asset management group at SEI Investment Company in Oaks, Pa.
For Smith, becoming a lawyer was a calculated career decision. "I always knew at some point that I wanted a graduate degree," says Smith. "I thought it wise to first work and get a better perspective of what I really wanted to do, and what course of study would best help my career."
It came down to an advanced degree in either business or law, or a combination of the two. Ultimately, Smith decided to go with law, deeming it a more technical degree; since she already possessed a business background, Smith reasoned that a law degree would allow her to be more marketable.
After finishing law school, Smith envisions herself as "maybe in-house, or maybe a firm. I'm looking for the best opportunity. But if I go to a firm, my number one goal will be to make partner."
As MCCA's inaugural class of fellows and scholars moves ahead on their individual law school and career paths, a new crop of deserving recipients are benefiting from the MCCA program as they begin their first year in law school. Already, the scholarship program has established itself as a tangible example of the diverse perspectives and experiences that MCCA advocates in the legal profession.
Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md.
From the September/October 2006 issue of Diversity & The Bar®