News Releases
April 06, 2011

Boston’s Legal Community Answers the Call – Putting Bright Young Minds to Work This Summer

Press Release

Underscoring an unwavering commitment to help build a diverse and inclusive legal profession, the Boston Bar Association’s Summer Jobs/Youth Enrichment Program already has 30 employers on board for the summer of 2011, providing jobs for 33 students. Among them are law firms large and small, law offices from across Boston and legal departments serving government and private companies.

“The train is leaving the station,” said David Rosenblatt, Co-Chair of the BBA Summer Jobs Program, and Managing Partner at Burns & Levinson. “If your firm has a stake in helping to provide a uniquely beneficial experience for both the youth of our community, and your lawyers and staff, you need to be on board. We are deeply grateful to the 30 employers leading the pack, but we’d like to see 100 or more.”

Now in its 18th year, the BBA Summer Jobs program represents a longstanding collaboration of the Boston Bar Association, the Boston School Department, and the Boston Private Industry Council. The program has earned a reputation for helping employers develop relationships with the community, while allowing students the opportunity to develop professional skills and experience.

“The Program provides a potentially life changing experience for both students and their employers,” says Paula K. Andrews, Co-Chair of the BBA Summer Jobs Program, and a Partner at Hinckley Allen & Snyder. “When you hire students through this program, you are giving them a unique opportunity, one not readily available to urban youth. You are also sending a message that the legal profession cares about being diverse and inclusive.”

In addition to performing a wide range of administrative tasks, the students participate in an orientation session on workplace rights and responsibilities, civics seminars emphasizing the three co-equal branches of government, and the M. Ellen Carpenter Financial Literacy Program. All educational enrichment sessions are taught by lawyers and judges.

“Our office participates in the BBA Summer Jobs Program because it often brings high school students of color into our legal department and shows them a new world of opportunity,” says Brent Henry, Vice President and General Counsel, Partners Healthcare System. “Boston is a very diverse city and we hope that the legal community will some day reflect our city’s diversity. Participating in this program is a concrete step toward this goal.”

Yes, there’s still time to add your law firm or legal department to the growing list of employers for the summer of 2011, but you need to act quickly. Contact Stephanie Lee at slee@bostonbar.org.

Thank you to the firms already on board. . .

Anderson & Kreiger LLP
Bingham McCutchen LLP
Burns & Levinson LLP
Choate Hall & Stewart LLP
Chu, Ring & Hazel LLP
Collora LLP
Davis, Malm & D’Agostine, P.C.
DLA Piper LLP (US) – Boston Office
Donovan Hatem, LLP
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP*
Foley Hoag LLP
Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP
Holland & Knight, LLP
Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.
Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP
City of Boston, Office of the Corporation Counsel*
Partners HealthCare
Prince Lobel Glovsky & Tye LLP
Proskauer Rose LLP
Sovereign Bank
Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office
Suffolk University Law School
Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, P.C.
Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP
Todd & Weld LLP
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

*Hiring multiple students for the summer of 2011.