US Attorney addresses Next Generation of Law Students Researching Cutting Edge ADL Issues

  • July 25, 2013

For the fifteenth summer, ADL sponsored the Maxwell E. Greenberg Summer Associate Research Program (SARP) in cooperation with 15 major LA law firms. Since 1999, prominent LA firms have each donated the time of one or more summer associates to complete pro bono legal research for ADL on cutting edge civil rights issues facing ADL. This year, the summer associates examined 32 questions covering the areas of religious freedom, bullying remedies, sovereign citizens, First Amendment, discrimination, civil liberties and foreign law. The summer associates each work with a partner or senior lawyer from the firm and can also consult with ADL staff and UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler as they prepare their reports.

The culmination of this year’s program was a cocktail reception on July 23, graciously hosted by Jones Day, where summaries of each of the research papers were distributed. Guest speaker was the United States Attorney for the Central District of California André Birotte (3rd from left), who was appointed by President Obama to his current position in 2009. Previously he had served as Los Angeles Police Department’s Inspector General.

US Attorney Birotte opened his remarks with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” and added the message that President Obama gave using the same quote that, for this to occur, we must all work together to “put our hands” on that arc. He spoke about the need for us to think about the Civil Rights Movement as a 21st century movement, not just one we study in history books. Birotte mentioned his role in bringing back the civil rights section of the US Attorneys’ Office and the importance of “constitutional and community policing,” stating that law enforcement “cannot break the law to enforce the law.”

ADL SARP co-chairs Ryan Larsen, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, and Brent Sokel, Jones Day delivered certificates of achievement to the summer associates from the participating law firms: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP; Bingham McCutchen LLP; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Irell & Manella LLP; Jones Day; Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; Latham Watkins; Morrison & Foerster; Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP; O’Melveny & Myers; Proskauer Rose; Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP; Sidley Austin, LLP; Skadden Arps; and Sullivan & Cromwell.

The program was named in honor of long-time Los Angeles attorney Maxwell Greenberg who passed away in October, 2007. Greenberg was National Chair of ADL from 1978 to 1982.