I am truly excited to announce a new program that our Consumer Financial Services Group is launching this year, which is aimed at increasing the number of diverse lawyers – lawyers who have overcome one or more substantial obstacles in pursuing a legal career, come from a disadvantaged background, and/or are under-represented in the legal community – within the consumer financial services industry.

We believe that there are too few diverse lawyers in the industry, and that we need to take action to move the industry in the right direction. Rather than waiting for diverse lawyers to come to us, or to become interested in the industry on their own, we want to generate interest in consumer finance among law students, and lay the foundation for diverse students to have a successful career in CFS.  The idea is to identify diverse law students who may be interested in consumer finance and bring them into our CFS group, either during the school year or during the summer.  We plan to introduce them to consumer finance law; to mentor them and give them an overview of the consumer finance industry; and to provide them with introductions to clients, regulators, and trade associations.  The concept is to “show them the world” of consumer finance, including the law, the business and the relationships.  These programs are designed to feed into permanent associate positions within our CFS group.

We are launching the program with a summer fellowship for this coming summer.  You can see the details and submit an application by clicking here.  If you know someone who might be interested in our program, please encourage them to apply.

We look forward to working in partnership with law professors, law schools, our clients, regulators, and trade associations to welcome diverse students into our industry.