Today, we’ve got some unfortunate news from the Stanford Law School community, where a rising third-year law student was found dead shortly after having accepted an offer to join Wachtell Lipton as an associate after graduation.
Born in Berlin, Germany, Leon Cain, 27, was a 2013 graduate of the University of Southern California and would have been a 2019 graduate of Stanford Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the school’s Journal of Law, Business, & Finance and as a board member of the school’s Black Law Students Association. Prior to his first year at Stanford, Cain, who was “[p]assionate about increasing diversity in the legal field,” worked at O’Melveny & Myers as an SEO Fellow in a program that provided diverse incoming law students the opportunity to preview Biglaw employment opportunities. Following his first year of law school, he joined Munger Tolles as a summer associate, and this past summer, he spent his summer at Wachtell. Law.com has additional information on Cain’s death:
Leon Cain (Photo via LinkedIn)
At 8:55 a.m. Aug. 19, emergency medical personnel were called after a concierge at the luxury apartment complex, the Woodward Building, was alerted to an unconscious person on the building’s second-floor terrace, according to a report by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington. Cain was found unresponsive and subsequently declared dead at the scene.
Cain was later transferred to the medical examiner’s office. The details and cause of his death have not yet been released, but police confirmed that a detective has been assigned to investigate his death.
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Wachtell issued this statement after learning of Cain’s death: “[Cain] was a very successful member of our summer class and we were looking forward to having him join the firm as a full-time associate next year. We mourn his passing.”
In Cain’s obituary, his family refers to his death as a “tragic accident.” They have created a GoFundMe page to support the Leon Cain Scholarship Fund for Aspiring Black Law Students. A memorial service will be held at Stanford Law on October 14.
We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Leon Cain’s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.
Wachtell Summer Associate’s Cause of Death Remains Unclear [Law.com]
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.