White & Case has increased its involvement in urban debate in the US on local and national levels.

Having partnered with urban debate leagues in Miami, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. for several years, the Firm recently expanded this commitment to include support for local leagues in all eight US offices.

In addition, we recently announced a three-year partnership with the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) in an agreement that sees us sponsor NAUDL’s Alumni Fellows Program, now renamed the White & Case NAUDL Fellows Program.

Urban debate leagues work with middle and high school students, many of whom attend schools without the resources for debate programs. Through debate, these students learn advocacy, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, research and listening skills.

Washington, D.C. Partner Mark Gidley has been involved with debate for many years and was instrumental in the expanded support.

He says: “From my debate experience in high school and onward as a coach, judge and parent, I have seen the change in maturity, self-confidence and openness to understand the other side’s position through participating in debate.

“The importance of this, especially for students in urban areas who normally wouldn’t have the resources, cannot be understated.”

The idea to expand our involvement in urban debate came about when Mark and members of the recently established Antitrust Racial Justice Task Force (see boxout) discussed it during the summer of 2020.

Washington, D.C. partner Dana Foster, who co-chairs the task force, explains: “Urban debate leagues are focused on kids in under-served communities that don’t have the resources for debate that other schools might take for granted.

“It is also a great way to introduce young people to the possibility of a career in law because they get to meet lawyers who may come from similar backgrounds.

“As education is one of the task force’s main priorities, we wanted to do something to strengthen the Firm’s relationship with urban debate, both nationally and locally.

“After these discussions, we approached Elizabeth Black, Associate Director of Global Citizenship at the Firm, who became the driving force in helping us expand and formalize White & Case’s involvement in urban debate in offices across the US.”

White & Case associates and partners in each office were recruited as urban debate champions and developed relationships with local leagues.

Elizabeth says: “Our involvement varies from office to office and will develop over time. In offices where we’ve worked with urban debate leagues for several years, we sponsor, judge and host tournaments and other events, such as an asylum workshop and presentation on water rights we held in Washington, D.C.

“We’re still in the early stages in several offices, but interest is growing. In New York, for example, we recently held an event where the tables were turned and our summer associates gave the students a chance to coach and judge them – demonstrating all they had learned about debate.”

Looking for other ways to support urban debate, the Firm reached out to NAUDL to explore a possible collaboration.

Elizabeth explains: “In these discussions, we identified NAUDL’s new alumni fellows program as an area where we could add value.

“NAUDL piloted the program in 2020. Following an application process and interviews, college students who have previously been active in urban debate were selected to take part in a summer internship where they worked on projects for NAUDL and local leagues.

“The Fellows Program aims to prepare urban debate alumni for a professional career. This year, we established a three-year sponsorship where the Firm not only provides financial support, but we’re also working closely with NAUDL and the fellows on weekly virtual round tables where our lawyers provide career readiness advice on a variety of topics.”

The first program under the Firm’s sponsorship finished in August and earned high praise from NAUDL and the students taking part.

Feedback reveals that 100 percent of fellows highly valued the roundtable discussions and appreciated having focused time with experienced professionals.

Whether they aspire to practice law or not, each participant gained applicable knowledge from the volunteers.

Fellows commented that the panelists were ‘genuinely interested in us’ and were ‘unbelievably helpful’ in providing insights around successfully navigating a career as well as entering and changing jobs or industries.

One of the fellows, Javier Hernandez, travelled to the UK for a holiday and happened to pass our London office, so he went into reception to take a closer look.

Elizabeth says: “When we heard about Javier’s visit, we worked quickly to arrange a full tour on the last day of his holiday.”

Following the program and tour, Javier noted: “The associates and partners from White & Case were extremely generous with their time and met with us regularly to give us first-hand insight into the legal realm.

“This, together with my tour of the London office, has become an indispensable part of my professional development, thanks to the wonderful people at NAUDL and White & Case.”

NAUDL Executive Director Rhonda Haynes adds: “White & Case has proven to be a valuable and important contributor to the weekly roundtables.

“While no two sessions were the same, every White & Case volunteer invested additional time for advance preparation, making sure they were well poised to contribute to the topic with their most candid and valuable experiences.

“Their perspectives and advice were timely and relevant for the fellows and, surprisingly, our staff as well.

“We could not be more thrilled with this year’s success and look forward to building upon it to create an even more meaningful experience for fellows and volunteers next year.”

Dana adds: “It is incredible to see how a relatively small amount of our time and effort can make such an important impact on a student’s academic and professional life.

“We’re in regular contact with NAUDL and the local leagues to strengthen our relationships and to see how we can take the relationships further in future.”