Recent News

June 22, 2007

Minority Clerkship Program celebrates 20 years

A trip back to our CBA News archives reveals news about the creation of the Minority Clerkship Program in 1987.

January 16, 1987: CBA Board plans minority intern program. “A clerkship program for first-year minority law students at both Capital University and The Ohio State University law schools has been approved by the CBA Board of Governors and will begin this summer.” All this according to Guy Reece, chair of the Minorities in the Legal Profession committee.

The program was designed to supplement a minority student’s clerkship experience with other work-related skill development in the medium and large firm environment, with a long-range goal to increase the number of minority attorneys as associates and partners in these firms.

February 18, 1987: Minority mentor program under way. More than 50 people attend the reception to learn more about giving black law students a chance to build relationships with black attorneys and to learn about their respective areas of practice. “It’s really just a modern version of how young attorneys learned their occupations in the early days of our legal system.” (Linda Ammons, president of the OSU Black Law Students Association, with volunteers Doug Williams, Robert Duncan, the Hon. Janet Jackson, and Fred Benton.)

March 6, 1987: Minority clerkships to begin this summer. Program approved by managing partners of participating firms. Deans of each law school to establish a minority clerkship selection committee. Minority students completing first year of law school are eligible for clerkship, guidelines and procedures developed by the Minorities in the Legal Profession committee.

May 8, 1987: Minority clerks “choose” law firms. Well, not really. Nine first-year law students pull from a hat, names of participating law firms. Present at the pairing event were Ben Zox, Columbus Bar president; Norton Webster, chair of the program, working as a task force point man within the Minorities in the Legal Profession committee, chaired by Guy Reece.

Fast forward for June 22, 2007—Over 500 students and 60 employers have participated since the inception of the Minority Clerkship Program. The program has stood the test of time, is the oldest of Columbus Bar programs, and Norton Webster remains an active guide and program historian as a part of the sponsoring Minorities in the Law Committee.

Minority Clerkship Program Employers:

Arter & Hadden+
Bailey Cavalieri LLC
Baker & Hostetler LLP
Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP
Bricker & Eckler LLP
Buckingham Doolittle Burroughs, LLP
Carlile Patchen Murphy LLP*
Chester Willcox & Saxbe LLP
Columbia Gas of Ohio
Columbus City Attorney
Court of Appeals Tenth District
Crabbe Brown & James LLP*
Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Division of Domestic Relations and Juvenile Branch
Franklin County Prosecutor
Franklin County Public Defender
Gallagher Gams Pryor Tallon & Litrell LLP
Hahn Loeser + Parks
Hamilton Kramer Myers & Cheek+
Hexicon Specialty Chemicals
Honda of America Mfg.
Isaac Brant Ledman & Teetor LLP
Jones Day
Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter*
Lane Alton & Horst, LLC
Maguire & Schneider LLP
Nationwide - Office of General Counsel
Ohio Attorney General
Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation
Ohio Department Administrative Services
Ohio Department of Aging
Ohio Department of Commerce
Ohio Department of Development
Ohio Department of Health
Ohio Department of Insurance
Ohio Department of Job & Family Services
Ohio Department of Mental Health
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Ohio Department of Rehab & Correction
Ohio Department of Transportation
Ohio Department of Youth Services
Ohio Department Taxation
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
Ohio Governor’s Office
Ohio Lottery Commission
Ohio Public Defender's Office
Ohio Secretary of State
Ohio Supreme Court
Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP*
Private Industry Council
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
Reminger & Reminger Co., LPA
Schottenstein Zox & Dunn Co., LPA*
Schwartz Kelm Warren & Rubenstein+
Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP*
State Employees Relations Board
The Legal Aid Society of Columbus
Thompson Hine
Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP*
Wiles Boyle Burkholder & Bringardner Co., LPA
 
*Twenty-year employers
+No longer in existence