Sedgwick hosted its first Posse intern this summer in our Los Angeles office as part of the firm's Diversity Pipeline Initiatives geared toward expanding the pipeline of diverse attorneys in the field of law. This internship, overseen locally by partner and local Diversity Committee chair John Stephens, offered a comprehensive program of mentorship and professional development. The firm held its first junior trial academy this summer, which allowed the Sedgwick intern to assist the summer associates in the Los Angeles office with trial and other related legal work, including preparing documents and pleadings. The intern left the program with a future internship at the New York District Attorney’s office and a strong desire to attend law school. The Sedgwick intern, who credits his decision to apply to law school to his wonderful experience at Sedgwick, has accepted a full tuition scholarship to Northwestern Law School in the fall. This is a result that gives Sedgwick's Diversity Committee great pride as it confirms the effectiveness of Sedgwick's Diversity Pipeline Initiatives.
Posse is a college access and youth leadership development program that identifies, recruits and selects student leaders from public high schools and sends them in groups called Posses (multicultural teams made up of 10 students) to some of the top colleges and universities in the country. The students obtain four-year, full tuition leadership scholarships to these universities. Sedgwick's pipeline initiative conducted in conjunction with Posse is but one of several pipeline initiatives the firm has developed in an effort to increase the number of diverse lawyers in the legal pipeline from start to finish. The firm has also undertaken a law school pipeline initiative with the goal of offering legal internships to diverse first-year law students to provide them with needed experience to successfully compete for and attain second-year summer clerkships and ultimately land positions in law firms upon graduation. The firm also collaborates with the Girls Inc. charity to host high school interns in several offices under its SAGE program, rounding out the pipeline. In addition, the firm is actively involved with the San Francisco Bar Association Mock Trial Diversity Program and supports the Caribbean Bar Association’s Minority Clerkship Program.