The Vance Center seeks to promote an ethically active legal profession, and our African Legal Fellows Program has been a centerpiece of this mission. Launched soon after the advent of democracy in South Africa, it aimed to overcome the legacy of apartheid through a more racially-inclusive legal profession and to spread the spirit and practice of pro bono legal service. The program has invited South African lawyers from historically-disadvantaged backgrounds to apply to spend a year working in leading New York law firms or corporate legal departments, where they receive mentoring, professional development, and institutional engagement in pro bono practice. As the legal profession and economies of Africa continue to develop, the Vance Center since 2017 has expanded the reach of the program to Nigeria and Kenya.
More than 60 Fellows from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya since 2002 have participated and then returned to excel in their careers and share their experience among colleagues, law students and others. The host firms and corporate legal departments also benefitted from the contributions of the Fellows and the networks that they subsequently provided. These include:
Law firms and corporate legal departments that have hosted fellows so far:
• Baker McKenzie |
• JP Morgan Chase |
• O’Melveny & Myers |
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton |
• King & Spalding |
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison |
• Clifford Chance |
• Kirkland & Ellis |
• Shearman & Sterling |
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore |
• Mayer Brown |
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett |
• Credit Suisse |
• Merrill Lynch |
• Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom |
• Davis Polk & Wardwell |
• Morgan Stanley |
• Sullivan & Cromwell |
• Debevoise & Plimpton |
• Morrison & Foerster |
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY |
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer |
• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe |
• Weil Gotshal & Manges |
The program continues to explore expansion to other countries in the continent.