20 YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENT – OUR STORY | SUPPORT THE FOUNDATION
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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.
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 240 law students at 24 schools located throughout the US and overseas. The Fellowship Program reflects our industry-leading Public Policy Practice and its commitment to public service.
The 2020 Fellowship Program continues two features that are the product of the Foundation’s collaboration with the Deans’ Circle, which we created in 2018. Under our Sustained Impact Fellowship Program, three Fellows from three law schools are working on Puerto Rican post-Hurricane Maria recovery issues that still stand in the way of insurance and financing to rebuild homes destroyed by the hurricane. And, in conjunction with the Case Western Reserve University Law School, a Fellow is working at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, combining law and journalism.
The 2020 Public Policy Fellows Are:
- Sustained Impact Fellow - Reinaldo F. Machin - Howard University School of Law - Centro Para Puerto Rico
- Sustained Impact Fellow - Tania B. Suarez Marquez - The George Washington University Law School - Ayuda Legal Huracan Maria
- Pulitzer Fellow - Zora Raglow-Defranco - Case Western Reserve University School of Law - The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
- American University Washington College of Law - Gaelen L. Molina - Demos
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law - Hyeng Yeal “Ian” Kim - State of Washington Attorney General’s Office
- Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law - Brenda J. Keels - Children’s Law Center
- Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law - Mercedes E. Wilson-Barthes - Public Justice Center
- Georgetown University Law Center - Sadev S. Parikh - Public Knowledge
- Georgetown University Law Center - Mary E. Offutt-Reagin - Government Accountability Project
- Georgia State University College of Law - Audrone “Audra” Durham - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4
- Howard University School of Law - Jerron Hawkins - American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California
- Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law - Kathryn Monroe - Texas Education Agency, Office of Legal Services Division
- The George Washington University Law School - Robert Alexander “Alex” McKenzie - World Bank Group
- The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law - Jessica Akerman - Ohio Public Defender – Death Penalty Department
- University of Arkansas School of Law - Madison Miller - Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- University of California Hastings College of the Law - Leena Sabagh - Center for Justice and Accountability
- University of Cincinnati College of Law - Leah Castelaz - Children’s Law Center
- University of Colorado Law School - Matthew Vondrasek - Environmental Protection Agency – National Enforcement Training Institute
- University of Denver Sturm College of Law - Phoebe Blessing - American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado
- University of Denver Sturm College of Law - Cassandra “Casey” Morris - Sustainable Development Strategies Group
- University of Miami School of Law - Amanda Suarez - American Civil Liberties Union of Florida
- University of Texas School of Law - Clarissa Iglesias Torres - Centro Para Puerto Rico
- University of Virginia School of Law - James R. Harper, III - Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Court of Appeals Litigation Group
- University of Virginia School of Law - Morgan Claire Palmiter - U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
- Yale Law School - Simon Engler - Legal Unit, Greenpeace International