Squire Patton Boggs Foundation

    We maintain a long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility. By providing a meaningful investment in law students and legal professionals to engage in law, public policy and public service, the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation embodies this commitment.

    The Foundation is rooted in a history of civil rights advocacy. Established in 2000, the Foundation honored the retirement of the firm’s founding partner James R. Patton, Jr. To endow the Foundation, we dedicated lawyers’ fees from a 25-year pro bono case, the Ironworkers case, won by Foundation President John Oberdorfer. In the case, a federal court in Washington DC struck down racial barriers faced by African-American construction workers.

    The Foundation’s endowment has continued to grow through the proceeds of a second large pro bono victory, the Yachtsman case, won when we successfully settled a federal racial discrimination suit against a hotel resort that discriminated against African-American bikers during Black Bike Week in Myrtle Beach.

    Throughout the years, the Foundation has also been supported by generous individual contributions from partners and friends of the firm.

    Follow our Foundation on Facebook.

    Public Policy Fellowship Program

    The cornerstone of the Foundation is the Public Policy Fellowship Program, which launched in 2005, as well as our Sustained Impact Fellowships that focus continuing efforts on racial justice, human rights, and veterans concerns. Each year, the Fellowship Program awards fellowships to exceptional first and second year law students who demonstrate a steadfast commitment to public service and a developed interest in public policy. These law students commit their summers to advancing access to justice, the rule of law, and public policy issues through their service to non-profit institutions, government agencies and domestic or international organizations.

    The Foundation is pleased to welcome its Fellowship Class of 2024. We invite you to view our 2024 Fellows Announcements as the class is assembled.

    The Public Policy Fellowship program is the backbone of the Foundation. In 2024 our Public Policy Fellows will once again make important contributions locally, regionally, nationally, and globally through a wide range of public interest and public service internships.

    Under our Sustained Impact Fellowship Programs, three Fellows will be working on racial justice issues, one on veterans’ issues, and two will work on human rights issues, with one serving as this year’s Joe Brand Human Rights Fellow.

    Through 2024, the Foundation will have provided fellowships to over 385 students. Presently we collaborate with 19 US law schools and the College d’Europe in Brussels and Warsaw. The work of the Foundation through its Fellows is emblematic of our firm culture and the leadership role we continue to play within the legal profession.

    Congratulations to the Fellowship Class of 2024!

    John L. Oberdorfer, President                   Rodney E. Slater, Chairman

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    Racial Justice Sustained Impact Fellowships

    Racial justice, voting rights, police and community relations, and juvenile justice in minority communities – these are the pressing issues of our time. In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, as part of the heightened consciousness about systemic racism and racial injustice, the Foundation convened panel discussions and engaged in conversations with and among the Fellowship Class of 2020 about addressing racial injustice.

    Read more here.

    Veterans Justice Fellowship Program

    An important part of the Foundation is its commitment to Veterans. From the beginning of the Fellowship Program the Foundation has requested that its participating law schools give a preference to Fellowship applicants who are serving, or who have previously served, in the US Army, Army JAG Corps, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard. We are very proud of the 22 Fellows who are serving or have done so, including two in this year’s 2023 class of Fellows.

    Read more here.

    News

    2022 Fellow Examines Eligibility for Veterans Treatment Courts

    2022 Fellow Mark Dela Peña recently published Veterans Treatment Courts: Broadening Eligibility for Veterans Convicted of Violent Offenses in the Catholic University Law Review. A United States Marine Corps veteran, Mark is a 2024 J.D. candidate at the Catholic University Columbus School of Law.  Mark served his 2022 Fellowship at the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney in Fairfax County, Virginia.
    Updated SPB Foundation Advisory Committee Structure

    The Foundation relies on the coordinated efforts of the volunteer members of its Advisory Committee. A strengthened Committee is setting to work on the Foundation’s 2024 goals.
    Our Foundation Honors Two Fellowship Alumnae with 2023 Distinguished Fellow Award
    The Squire Patton Boggs Foundation honored two Fellowship alumnae, Meaghan Fitzgerald and Meyling “Mey” Ly Ortiz, with the 2023 Distinguished Fellow Award during a recent virtual ceremony. Recipients are recognized for their commitment to justice and addressing the needs of the underrepresented.
    Seeking Accountability for Violent Extremism
    Congratulations to Meredith Gusky, our inaugural Joe Brand Human Rights Fellow, for her work for Human Rights First toward the filing of an important human rights case in Boston, Murrell v. Patriot Front, et al.
    UC Law Student Awarded Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Fellowship
    Madeline Brown, a 2023 Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Public Policy Fellow and University of Cincinnati College of Law rising second-year law student, is spending her summer working at the Hamilton County (OH) Court of Domestic Relations and Family Law Clinic.
    U.S. Lags Other Nations in Regulating AI
    We are pleased to share an article by 2023 Fellow Jane Wiertel on the regulation of artificial intelligence published in Gateway Journalism Review.
    ASU Law Student Makes Community Impact through Fellowship Program
    Julian Puthenpurayil, the first student from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law to earn a Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Fellowship, is currently lending his talents to the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office.