Squire Patton Boggs Foundation
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, as well as our Sustained Impact Fellowships that focuses on continuing efforts on racial justice, human rights and veterans concerns. 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 access to justice, the rule of law and public policy issues through their service to non-profit institutions, government agencies and domestic or international organizations.
The Public Policy Fellowship program is the backbone of the Foundation. In 2024, our Public Policy Fellows once again made important contributions locally, regionally, nationally and globally through a wide range of public interest and public service internships. We invite you to view our 2024 Fellows and their endeavors.
Under our Sustained Impact Fellowship Programs, three of our 2024 Fellows worked on racial justice issues, one on veterans’ issues, one served as this year’s Joe Brand Human Rights Fellow and one as a Fellow with our partner organization Human Rights Watch.
Through 2024, the Foundation has provided fellowships to over 385 students. Presently we collaborate with 19 US law schools and the College d’Europe in Brussels and Warsaw. The work of the Foundation through its Fellows is emblematic of our firm culture and the leadership role we continue to play within the legal profession.
John L. Oberdorfer, President Rodney E. Slater, Chairman
Racial justice, voting rights, police and community relations, and juvenile justice in minority communities – these are the pressing issues of our time. In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, as part of the heightened consciousness about systemic racism and racial injustice, the Foundation convened panel discussions and engaged in conversations with and among the Fellowship Class of 2020 about addressing racial injustice.
An important part of the Foundation is its commitment to Veterans. From the beginning of the Fellowship Program the Foundation has requested that its participating law schools give a preference to Fellowship applicants who are serving, or who have previously served, in the US Army, Army JAG Corps, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard. We are very proud of the 22 Fellows who are serving or have done so, including two in this year’s 2023 class of Fellows.