The Rochester difference

A Thruway alliance of sorts, now entering its fifth year, has proved its worth in a big way by making one legal community more diverse – and offering a crucial first step for UB Law students.

Michael Wolford '68

In its first four years, the Minority Clerkship Program of the Monroe County Bar Association has placed 31 UB Law students in internships during the summer following their first year of legal training. The placements are with law firms, corporations and public agencies, and come with a minimum salary of about $700 a week – unusual for first-year legal internships.

"We have been very pleased," says Michael Wolford '68, of the Wolford Law Firm in Rochester, who instituted the program when he was president of the bar association." There just are not a lot of minority lawyers in town, so we decided that one way of trying to increase the number is to start early and try to attract law students who might be willing to relocate and practice in Rochester."

Though the "vast majority" of applicants to the program come from UB Law, Wolford says, it is open to first-year students at all law schools. For this coming summer, Wolford says, 21 students applied for eight available slots.

Jacia T. Smith '07

In addition to learning on the job, the interns have weekly "Lunch and Learn" presentations at which they hear judges and practitioners talk about their areas of expertise. One UB Law product who took part in the program in its first year is Jacia Smith '07. She worked for Wolford in the summer of 2005, and now is an associate in the Rochester office of the Harris Beach law firm.

Smith says she had been intending to seek employment in Washington, D.C., or New York City before the Minority Clerkship Program changed her mind. "It did take some convincing to keep me at home," says Smith, a native of Rochester."This program is a way to get minorities who traditionally wouldn't look at a smaller city like Rochester to do so." Now, as a member of the bar association's Diversity Committee, she helps review applications and serves as a mentor to some of the law students who have followed her into that critical summer job.