Biglaw Firms To Lend Associates To NYC Law Departments For Public Service Fellowships
The associates will still be employed -- and paid -- by their firms during their fellowships.
The city has never needed lawyers more than it does today. There are currently hundreds of lawyer positions vacant, and the city’s lawyers at the law department and within its agencies do incredible work every day even though they are shorthanded.
— Brendan McGuire, chief counsel to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in comments given during a press conference announcing the New York City Legal Fellows Program, which will allow junior associates from major Biglaw firms to gain public service experience through one-year stints working with city agencies’ law departments. The Biglaw firms involved in this initiative include King & Spalding; Kirkland & Ellis; O’Melveny & Myers; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Ropes & Gray; Shearman & Sterling; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
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.
