We maintain a long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility. By providing a meaningful investment in law students and legal professionals to engage in law, public policy and public service, the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation embodies this commitment.
The Foundation is rooted in a history of civil rights advocacy. Established in 2000, the Foundation honored the retirement of the firm’s founding partner James R. Patton, Jr. To endow the Foundation, we dedicated lawyers’ fees from a 25-year pro bono case, the Ironworkers case, won by Foundation President John Oberdorfer. In the case, a federal court in Washington DC struck down racial barriers faced by African-American construction workers.
The Foundation’s endowment has continued to grow through the proceeds of a second large pro bono victory, the Yachtsman case, won when we successfully settled a federal racial discrimination suit against a hotel resort that discriminated against African-American bikers during Black Bike Week in Myrtle Beach.
Throughout the years, the Foundation has also been supported by generous individual contributions from partners and friends of the firm. View our brochure.
Public Policy Fellowship Program
The cornerstone of the Foundation is the Public Policy Fellowship Program, which launched in 2005. Each year, the Fellowship Program awards fellowships to exceptional first- and second-year law students who demonstrate a steadfast commitment to public service and a developed interest in public policy. These law students commit their summers to advancing public policy issues through non-profit institutions, government agencies and domestic or international organizations.
To date, the foundation has provided fellowships to more than 200 law students at 17 law schools located throughout the US. The Fellowship Program reflects our industry-leading Public Policy Practice and its commitment to public service.
The 2018 Public Policy Fellows Are:
- Claire Cahoon, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law: The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute (Dallas, Texas)
- Joaquin Ray Gallegos, University of Denver Sturm College of Law: US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (Washington DC)
- Barbara Horne-Petersdorf, The George Washington University Law School: UN International Law Commission (New York, and Geneva, Switzerland)
- Lemuel Howard, Howard University School of Law: Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (Washington DC).
- Molly Nellis Jickling, University of Colorado Law School: National Association of Counsel for Children (Aurora, Colorado)
- Shally Kim, American University Washington College of Law: US Food and Drug Administration Office of Regulatory Policy for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (Washington DC)
- Dianne Lake, Yale Law School: Public International Law and Policy Group (Washington DC)
- Edwin LaMair, University of Denver Sturm College of Law: The Nature Conservancy (San Francisco, California)
- Julia Lauritzen, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law: Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Katie Rose Martin, University of Arkansas School of Law: Peace at Home Family Shelter (Fayetteville, Arkansas)
- Oluwaseun Hannah Rahaman, University of Texas School of Law: Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (Austin, Texas)
- Valencia Richardson, Georgetown University Law Center: Campaign Legal Center (Washington DC)
- Catalina Rodriguez, University of Miami School of Law: One Stop Career Center of Puerto Rico (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
- Laura Schiemichen, Collège d’Europe: US Department of State’s US Mission to the European Union (Brussels, Belgium)
- Geoffrey Schmelkin, University of Virginia School of Law: US Trade and Development Agency (Washington DC)
- Cory Stevenson, Case Western Reserve University School of Law: Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender of the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Kara Marie Urban, Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law: US Senate Committee on Finance (Washington DC)
- Elisa Vari, University of California Hastings College of the Law: UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Caribbean Protection Unit (Washington DC)
To find out more about the Fellowship, please see our 2017 Fellows brochure.