Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP webinar: Justice First Skadden trainee programme

Calling all university undergraduates and graduates seeking to pursue a legal career in social welfare!

In 1988 Skadden established the Skadden Fellowship program in the US which has been extremely successful over the last 30 years. The Fellowship program, described by commentators as a "legal Peace Corps" and a "public interest law firm without walls," provides two-year Fellowships to talented lawyers to pursue the practice of social welfare and poverty law. Currently, there are approximately 800 former Skadden Fellows, 90% of whom remain in public service, with almost all of them continuing to work on the same issues they addressed during their Fellowship projects.

In 2020, Skadden’s London office expanded the concept by setting up the Justice First Skadden trainee programme, known as the JUST programme. The JUST programme is administered by The Legal Education Foundation’s (TLEF) Justice First Fellowship scheme, which funds training contracts and pupillages within a not-for-profit organisation that promotes social welfare law. Trainees subsequently qualify as solicitors or barristers in the sector.

Under the JUST programme, Skadden will sponsor one trainee selected each year through TLEF’s Justice First Fellowship scheme by providing funding to TLEF for the duration of the trainee’s two year training contract. Skadden will also provide ancillary support directly to the selected trainee through offering the opportunity to visit the Skadden London office, make connections with Skadden partners and attorneys at social and educational events, train alongside Skadden attorneys on relevant topics, and get involved in Skadden’s pro bono training programme. The first Skadden-sponsored JUST programme trainee commenced their training contract at the 2021 host organisation, the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, in January 2021.

The JUST programme not only provides an entry point for the brightest undergraduates who wish to pursue a legal career focused on social justice to train in a sector that desperately needs new advisors, but it also directly assists indigent communities that JUST programme trainees will serve in the course of their training.

 Applications for the 2022 cycle of the JUST programme open on 16 August 2021 and close on 13 September 2021.

Applicants will be notified of the initial selection in October 2021.

Interviews to follow in late October/early November 2021.

The successful candidate will begin their training contract at this year's host organisation, JustRight Scotland, in January 2022.

Details on how to apply can be found on the TLEF website: https://jff.thelegaleducationfoundation.org/host/justright-scotland/

If you are interested to hear more about this fantastic opportunity, please register your interest by submitting an application to attend a webinar where James Anderson (partner at Skadden) and Olivia Bushell (senior pro bono coordinator at Skadden) will be discussing JUST in more details on Tuesday 7 September from 6:00pm to 6:30pm.