In 2005, the firm established a Public Interest Fellowship Program to be awarded annually to up to four of its summer associates. In January, students who have accepted the Firm's summer associate offer are invited to apply for a public interest fellowship. Upon completion of at least eight weeks as Simpson Thacher summer associates, each of the four Fellows then spends four to six weeks on a significant public service project of his or her choosing while still receiving a full summer associate salary from the Firm.
We have now seen the work of our first class of Fellows and are enormously proud of the program. Of our inaugural class of four Fellows, two were from Columbia, one was from the University of Chicago and another was from Stanford. Their far reaching work included assisting the Center for Reproductive Rights in Delhi, India, providing civil rights-related legal services at the Legal Resources Center in South Africa, representing indigent adults and children at the District of Columbia Public Defenders Office and serving as an advocate for juvenile defendants in the Texas juvenile justice system.
In addition to these four Public Interest Fellows, Simpson Thacher continues to fund the Cyrus Vance Fellowship, which is a summer public interest fellowship established several years ago to honor Cyrus Vance, the former Secretary of State, peace negotiator and longtime partner of the Firm. The fellowship is earmarked for a summer associate from Yale, Mr. Vance's alma mater, to spend a portion of the summer working in international human rights. This year's Vance Fellow worked on criminal law reform in Luanda, Angola.
One of our 2005 Public Interest Fellows, Michael Shenkman, expressed the following about the program:
"The Simpson Thacher Public Interest Fellowship afforded me an extraordinary summer with the opportunity to learn about a wide range of legal practice--and the wide range of people and businesses behind that practice. In the space of one week, I went from helping finalize a securities offering at the printer's office in Manhattan to taking statements on alleged civil rights violations that occurred during a protest for greater AIDS care from the government in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.
"The fellowship also cemented my appreciation for Simpson Thacher's public service and professional development values, which I think set it apart from other top firms. I can't think of a better way to have spent my summer and am so grateful to have had this chance to gain new perspective on the law and, I hope, to have done some good."