21 Law Students Join Bar’s Leadership Fellowship Training

November 16, 2020

On November 13, the D.C. Bar Law Student Community hosted its second annual Leadership Fellowship training, attended by 21 students from eight law schools, including all six D.C.-area schools, the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York, and the Southern University Law Center in Louisiana.

D.C. Bar CEO Robert Spagnoletti kicked off the virtual event by welcoming the students and encouraging them to “be brave” as they navigate life and their legal careers. During the first panel, the students heard from D.C. Bar past president Darrell Mottley, an attorney at Banner Witcoff; Michelle Bercovici, a partner at Alden Law Group, PLLC; and John Gould, a partner at Arnold & Porter. Other featured speakers included public service lawyers Kate Hudson of the U.S. Government Accountability Office and Maryum Jordan with the Special Litigation and Advocacy Project. 

After lunch, Board of Veterans’ Appeals Chairwoman Cheryl Mason welcomed the students to an interactive workshop facilitated by attorneys from the Veterans’ Appeals Board and Judge Bethany Buck of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. D.C. Bar Communities staff attorney Brittany Sims Nwankwoala conducted a hypothetical leadership exercise to close out the day. 

“In creating this training, we wanted to ensure law students gained practical and applicable leadership skills they can utilize while in school and when they start their careers,” says Nwankwoala. “It was important for the students to engage in hands-on exercises to experience real-life situations attorneys handle in their professional and voluntary positions of leadership.”

Upon completion of the training day, 16 of the students will participate in fellowships on 10 Community steering committees and the Communities Committee throughout the Spring 2021 semester. As fellows, they will attend the monthly committee meetings and collaborate on a project of their choosing. 

The D.C. Bar Law Student Community was established in 2018 to engage law students before they graduate and join the D.C. Bar and D.C. Bar Communities.