Bay Area Minority Summer Clerkship Program (BAMSCP)
Since 1990, BAMSCP has placed diverse, first-year law students in summer clerkships at a wide range of Bay Area legal employers.
The Bay Area Minority Summer Clerkship Program (BAMSCP) is sponsored by the Santa Clara County Bar Association Foundation (The Foundation), the charitable arm of Santa Clara County Bar Association (SCCBA), with support by Alameda County Bar Association (ACBA), and the Contra Costa Bar Association (CCCBA) to provide diverse, first-year law students with meaningful experience in law firms, government offices, and in-house legal departments that they might not otherwise be able to access. This program is not a recruiting program, and employers and students have no expectation of further offers of employment. The program's most important objective is to increase the number of diverse attorneys in the hiring pipeline, giving them a better opportunity in subsequent years to be competitive for second-year clerkships and post law school employment.
BAMSCP selects students for its program through an application process, which is based on writing skills and an interview. The interview is administered by a committee made up of practicing attorneys in Silicon Valley who select the best and brightest students. BAMSCP then matches students with employers based on their practice area interest. Participating employers then screen students to ensure a good fit. Placements are based on the mutual preferences of both employers and students.
The SCCBA, in conjunction with Santa Clara University School of Law, founded the Program in 1990. That year, five first-year, diverse law students were placed in summer clerkships in five participating law firms. Since then, BAMSCP expanded its reach to numerous bar associations, law schools, and employers throughout the greater Bay Area.
To apply for the 2025 Summer Program complete the application and submit it via email to bamscpcochairs@gmail.com on or before December 6, 2024.
Given the historic under-representation of diverse lawyers in the legal profession, BAMSCP seeks to provide diverse law students with meaningful, legal work experience, increase the rate at which legal employers hire diverse candidates, and provide a means through which the Bay Area’s legal profession can better reflect the community it supports.
The specific purposes are:
- To expose diverse law students to the work and culture of legal employers, including law firms, government offices, and in-house legal departments.
- To help students develop skills, confidence, and professional contacts for the future.
- To expose students to the variety of settings in which they can practice law.
- To introduce prominent Bay Area legal employers to talented and diverse law students. BAMSCP primarily functions as an educational and introductory tool, not a recruiting program.
Diverse, first-year law students attending the following schools are eligible to participate in BAMSCP:
- Berkeley Law
- Golden Gate University School of Law
- Lincoln Law School
- McGeorge School of Law
- Santa Clara University School of Law
- Stanford Law School
- UC Davis School of Law
- UC Hastings
- University of San Francisco School of Law
Categories of diversity are defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and include, but are not limited to, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, age, etc. Although this program is intended to encourage participation by diverse 1L students, all 1L students are eligible to apply for consideration.
Only students who will have completed their first year of law school by the summer they are seeking employment through BAMSCP (the "BAMSCP summer") are eligible to participate. (Eligible students include part-time students who have completed one year of law school by the BAMSCP summer. Students who began law school in January of the year preceding the BAMSCP summer are also eligible). Students must be in good academic standing as defined by their respective law school to participate in BAMSCP. Students must be able to provide proof of ability to become lawfully employed in this country.