DIVERSITY PROGRAMS CHANGING

By Elizabeth Stull, Daily Record Reporter

July 10, 2009
The Monroe County Bar Association’s summer Minority Clerkship program
contracted by almost 40 percent in 2009.
The drop was attributed partly to the economy, but also to law firm initiatives to
internalize diversity programs, organizers said.
The MCBA’s Minority Clerkship Program begins recruiting first-year students at
several law schools during the fall semester. The association’s diversity committee
reviews student applications and interviews finalists for positions at Rochester area
firms, legal service providers, and at least one corporate law department.
Students may indicate which placement they prefer but are not guaranteed any
particular placement. Offers are random, but a preference for public service work is
accommodated to the extent possible. The clerkship lasts 10 weeks and participating
employers commit to pay a minimum salary of $500 per week, though many are closer
to $750 to $1,000 or more per week.
The program began in 2005 as the brainchild of then MCBA President Michael
Wolford. During its first three years the number of participating employers jumped from
eight to 13. This year, however, five firms dropped out.
The economic downturn “hit firms very rapidly,” said Thomas Warth, a partner at
Hiscock & Barclay and a member of the MCBA’s diversity committee. “They’ve just
really had to put the brakes on all kinds of expenditures.”
Warth, whose firm is participating in the program for the fourth straight year, said
law firms may not want to bring in a candidate if they do not anticipate hiring new
entry-level associates the following year.
After participating in the MCBA’s Minority Clerkship Program for the past three
years, the law firm of Boylan, Brown, Code, Vigdor & Wilson LLP took a hiatus in
2009.
“It’s been a very successful program for us, but due to the current economy we’ve
elected to suspend our recruiting activities for the summer of 2009,” Susan Gross, human
resources manager at Boylan Brown Code Vigdor & Wilson LLP said Thursday. “We
very much look forward to participating in the program again in the future.”
The law firm of Phillips Lytle LLP also dropped out of the MCBA diversity
program after participating in 2008. The firm did not immediately respond to calls for
comment on Thursday.
 A partner at the smaller law firm of Trevett Cristo Salzer & Andolina PC said that
instead of participating in the 2009 MCBA program, the firm opted instead to bring back
the minority summer associate it hosted through the program in 2008.
Moises DeJesus, a rising third-year law student at the University of Detroit-Mercy
Law School, is Trevett’s sole summer associate.
“The young gentleman will be a fine attorney one day. He’s a very engaging,
intelligent young man, and he will someday be an asset to the legal profession — and
that’s why we brought him back,” firm partner Louis Cristo told The Daily Record.
Although Trevett does not host summer clerks every year, Cristo said the firm
would contemplate participating in the MCBA program in the future.
Two legal service agencies — the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office and
the Volunteer Legal Services Project — also are not participating in 2009, after hosting
MCBA students in 2008.
The Monroe County Bar Foundation, which funded the VLSP placement in 2008,
supported a clerkship with the Monroe County Legal Assistance Corp. in 2009. Louise
Spinelli, program manager at the MCBA, said the legal services placement rotates among
the four legal service providers in Rochester.
The Public Defender position was funded by a three-year grant through the New
York State Bar Foundation, but it expired and alternative funding could not be obtained,
Spinelli said.
The law firm of Harter Secrest & Emery LLP has expanded its in-house diversity
recruiting, in lieu of continuing with the MCBA program, according to spokesman Jay
Quinn.
“We wanted to increase our commitment to summer diversity program this year,
so we doubled our scholarships from one to two, and increased the amounts from $5,000
to $7,500,” Quinn said.
“We hopefully [will] find somebody who’s going to be with us for a long time, so
we like to choose” the clerks, Quinn said. “It’s like any organization: You recruit and
you hire with an eye to somebody who’s going to be successful in your organization.”
Harter Secrest continues to invite participants in the MCBA clerkships to summer
associate events, however. Recently, former MCBA president Thomas Smith, a partner
at Harter Secrest, offered the seminar “Persuasive Writing and Effective Storytelling for
Lawyers.”
Nixon Peabody LLP and Harris Beach PLLC, both of which are participating in
the MCBA program this year, also have hired attorneys who initially were recruited
through the MCBA Minority Clerkship Program.
“The firm has had a fantastic experience with the program,” said Christian Hancey,
a partner in Nixon Peabody’s Rochester office and a member of its recruiting committee.
“We are committed to hiring diverse talent, and our participation in the Minority
Clerkship Program has been a key element of that objective.”
 Janelle Whitaker, a first-year associate at Nixon Peabody, said she applied for the
MCBA program after Michael Wolford, of The Wolford Law Firm, made a presentation
at the University at Buffalo Law School. She also knew a program alumnae who became
an associate at Harris Beach.
The program “provided an excellent opportunity to work in the legal field, to do
substantive work, to get involved with the legal community in Rochester. Rochester
wasn’t initially on my radar as a place that I intended to practice,” Whitaker said.
“Through the minority clerkship program I was introduced to the legal community here
in Rochester, and Rochester as a whole, and really just fell in love with the community.”
Whitaker, a Niagara Falls native, said she has returned to the University at Buffalo
to encourage students to apply for the program.
The other legal employers participating in the 2009 MCBA Minority Clerkship
Program are Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP and the Eastman Kodak Co.
“I’m hopeful that [the program] will bounce back next year and years after that,”
said Wolford, who continues to serve on the MCBA’s diversity committee with new
chairman Judy Toyer, an attorney at Kodak. This year, 19 students applied for the eight
available positions.

Re-Posted with Permission from THE DAILY RECORD.