Mayer Brown and Ropes & Gray are offering scholarships of $15,000 and $25,000 respectively in an effort to help boost the diversity profiles of their firms. Ropes & Gray has selected five graduates from diverse backgrounds to join the firm next year as summer associates in Boston, Chicago and New York. Meanwhile, Mayer Brown’s awards were available only to student who had already passed through the summer associate program who are now commencing as full-time associates. Four such awards were announced at Mayer Brown.

Currently, Mayer Brown’s 388-member partnership includes only five African American partners, 12 Hispanic or Latino partners, nine partners from Asian backgrounds and nine who openly identify as LGBT. However, the firm’s director of diversity and inclusion Jeremiah DeBerry believes the firm is making moves in the right direction. Of its 65-strong intake of summer associates this year, at least 55 per cent were either from a black and minority ethnic (BAME) background or LGBT-identified.

Source: BigLaw Business