Program Overview
The HCBA 1L Diversity Clerkship Program first began in the fall of 2005 under the direction of the Minnesota State Bar Association. The program places first-year law students from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds with Minnesota legal employers for a full-time, paid summer associate experience. Ultimately, the program hopes to find its participants becoming future partners and leaders in Minnesota’s legal community. The RCBA Diversity Committee has partnered with the HCBA Diversity and Inclusion Committee to support these efforts.
The summer of 2022 was the program’s sixteenth year, and more than 50 students applied and a record 21 students were placed. Hundreds of law students from underrepresented backgrounds have been served by the program since its inception.
How It Works
- Each 1L law student, who provides a complete application and who self-identifies from an underrepresented and/or marginalized identity, will be interviewed by members of the HCBA Diversity and Inclusion Committee and other volunteer attorneys during the weeks of January 9th and January 17th, 2023.
- A limited number of students (based on the number of participating employers) will be chosen for a second round of interviews in early February. Those students chosen for the second round of interviews are guaranteed summer employment; however, they will still need to interview with participating employers between February 22 and March 2 via Zoom. In the past all students have interviewed all participating employers, but due to an incredible high employer participation rate, each student will be interviewing with 10 of the total participating employers.
- The employers and students will then rank their choices from first to last.
- HCBA 1L Diversity Clerkship Subcommittee will then generate a blind match of employer and students, which will determine the employment matches for the clerkship program. *Note: This means students may get anywhere from their first to last ranked choice. Students should take this into consideration for applying. We hope students are excited and open about the opportunity to work in a variety of firm/organization areas.
- 1L students will coordinate with their employer match of start date and will start their clerkships in Summer.
For additional information, please contact Erikka Ryan, Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Foundations at
eryan@mnbars.org
Timeline
- September 26th, 2022: Employer Registration Opens
- October 17th, 2022: Employer Registration Closes
- October 23rd 2022: Student Application Opens
- December 11th, 2022: Student Application Closes
- January 9th-20th, 2023: First Round Interviews
- February 22nd-March 2nd, 2023: Second Round Interviews with Employers
- March 13th, 2023: Matching Preferences Due
- Week of March 17th: Student-Employer Match Reveals
- April 2023: Orientation
2023 Employers