FEATURE STORY
Natalie Vance is the managing
Diversity and the Bar: Uniting Diverse Law Students with Local Firms by Natalie Vance
shareholder of the Sacramento office of Klinedinst PC, where she focuses her practice on professional liability and business litigation. She may be contacted at nvance@klinedinstlaw.com.
2015 Fellows Front row, left to right: Alexandra Johnson, Omer Ali Kahn, Melissa Bocanegra, Parnian Vafaeenia, Diem Ly Vo Second row, left to right: Bahar Madani, Andia Farzaneh, Sophia Kwan, Linda Partmann, Laquae Felix, Rabia Majeed Back Row, Roya Bagheri, Peng Shao, Jermain Jones, Joel Guerra, Adam McIntyre, Suliman Khan, Not pictured: Hari Kumar
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or the past 25 years, the Sacramento County Bar Association’s Diversity and Hiring Committee has been working with U.C. Davis and Pacific McGeorge to pair diverse first year law students with local firms as part of its Diversity Fellowship Program. The Fellowship Program introduces students to the work, requirements, and culture of local firms between their first and second years of law school. The fellows are provided the opportunity to, develop skills, confidence, and resumé credentials, as well as make professional contacts in the community, with the hope that they will be en-
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couraged to consider Sacramento area law firms in their career planning. The Diversity and Hiring Committee is made up of representatives from local law firms, most of which participate in the summer program by agreeing to hire a summer fellow for 10 weeks each year. The fellows not only have the opportunity to work in a local firm, they also attend weekly lunch programs hosted by the participating firms and local courts, which introduce various aspects of law practice in Sacramento, such as legal writing, an introduction to the federal court, and law firm etiquette.
SACRAMENTO LAWYER | July/August 2015 | www.sacbar.org
The committee’s primary goal is to promote and increase diversity in Sacramento area law firms. And it works. While not every fellow ends up practicing in Sacramento, what is certain is that, among those who do, most would never have pursued a career with a Sacramento firm if not for their experience as a fellow. Angela Diesch, a 2005 fellow and current senior counsel at Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard, credits her experience as a fellow with help-