The Legal Fellows program offers law firms and host companies a number of benefits, including the skills and dedication of highly motivated lawyers who fit into the host`s existing international law programs. Fellows also complement existing diversity and inclusion initiatives, enriching the workplace with the life and culture of different African countries. In New York, they can introduce new businesses to new New York colleagues with African contacts. Most importantly, New York law firms and legal departments are strengthening the African legal profession, civil service, the rule of law and democracy in Africa by accepting Vance Fellows. The programme is conducted in English and fellows must be practising lawyers based in a country in the WHO Afro-region. Scholarships are for a maximum of one year of study at one of Harvard`s professional schools or the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, with instruction from the participating school. General administrative funds for program management, scholarships and airfares for fellows are provided by the President`s Office and administered by the Center for African Studies under the direction of Professor John Mugane. Recruitment and selection interviews for HSAFP Fellows take place annually with the support of the Africa Office of the Centre for African Studies in Johannesburg. The program continues to explore expansion into other countries on the continent. South African alumni formed an association, the South African Legal Fellows Network, to share the benefits of the program with others. They mentor high school, legal and junior lawyers, and help lawyers of colour share career advancement strategies.

They promote pro bono legal, collaborate with the Vance Center on projects, and help the Vance Center administer the Fellows program. Scholarships were awarded to men and women whose careers include education, law, public health, arts and humanities, business and the private sector, as well as a variety of other professions and disciplines. Through their presence in Harvard`s classrooms, seminars, research initiatives, and conferences, HSAFP Fellows have introduced knowledge and perspectives to the Harvard campus that go far beyond numbers and publications. Upon their return to South Africa, many HSAFP Fellows have played a leading role in their country and local communities as they continue to engage with the Harvard community in Cambridge, Africa and beyond. Fellows are selected because they have demonstrated considerable competence in the fields they have chosen and are expected of continuing education. Scholarships are available for one year of study at one of Harvard`s professional schools or the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, with tuition fee exemptions provided by the school once scholarship holders are admitted. General administrative funds for program management, scholarships and airfares for the Fellow are provided by the President`s Office and managed by the Center for African Studies under the direction of Professor John Mugane. Since the inception of the harvard South Africa Fellowship Program 40 years ago, more than 220 Fellows have been among the program`s alumni, representing leadership positions in all aspects of South African society, including many professors and senior managers at universities in South Africa, private sector leaders and a variety of South Africans who are government officials and international organizations for the public service.

Law firms and corporate legal departments that have so far accepted Fellows: The program is designed for talented young African nationals who are completing or have recently completed their PhDs in a field relevant to the work of the World Bank. The fellowship programme has been a great success from the beginning, building a strong pool of young African talent interested in careers in development, international institutions, African governments, think tanks and universities. It followed the same model as the African Legal Fellows program. He focused on highly skilled African energy lawyers who spent a year at U.S. law firms developing world-class skills and experience in energy transactions to be transferred to law firms and fellow scholars. In addition, the Power Africa program has enabled Fellows and their law firms, with the support of the Vance Center Committee law firms in the United States, to develop and deliver professional development workshops for government lawyers in the energy sector. For example, a series of webinars were developed for government lawyers in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya and conducted in collaboration with the East Africa Energy Program in Kenya and Ethiopia and the Energy Sector Program in Nigeria. Four international law firms and 15 law firms from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria participated in the workshops. Throughout their time in Washington, D.C., LAWA Fellows also participate in bi-weekly seminars and training sessions with their U.S. counterparts as part of the Women`s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program, where they discuss important women`s rights issues with leading government and public figures.

They attend related events, such as Supreme Court and Congress briefings on important women`s rights issues. The relationships that LAWA lawyers build with their U.S. contacts and government leaders, as well as their legal training and enhanced computer research and technology skills, provide an opportunity to leverage significantly expanded legal networks and resources upon their return to Africa. The Legal Fellows program offers law firms and host companies a number of benefits, including the skills and dedication of highly motivated lawyers who fit into the host`s existing international law programs. South African alumni formed an association, the South African Legal Fellows Network, to share the benefits of the program with others. The program offers selected fellows a six-month assignment in The World Bank Group`s Washington DC offices or country offices to gain hands-on experience with World Bank Group operations. This includes the generation and dissemination of knowledge, the development of global and national policies, and the establishment of institutions to achieve inclusive growth in developing countries. While benefiting from research and innovation across multiple sectors, fellows will also work on research, economic policy, technical assistance, and credit operations that contribute to the World Bank`s goal of eradicating poverty and increasing shared prosperity. The South African Legal Fellows Program, managed by City Bar and Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, places promising South African lawyers of color for a year in law firms and legal departments in New York. In New York, these lawyers work on complex cross-border transactions, acquire new legal and business skills and build their professional networks. Upon their return to South Africa, they became leading companies in the South African legal and business world.

They also formed an association, the South African Legal Fellows Network, to share what they learned in New York with others in South Africa. The network is becoming a major force for change in the South African legal profession, which is still suffering from the lingering effects of apartheid. In recent years, the Vance Center in City Bar has worked with local partners to organize Women in the Profession conferences across Latin America. At these conferences, partners and staff from law firms large and small, as well as in-house lawyers, exchanged ideas on how to promote diversity in the legal profession and how they can work together to promote women`s rights throughout the region. The Vance Center has also supported the creation of mentorship programs for female lawyers in Mexico, Chile and Argentina and is now supporting the development of a regional mentorship program in Central America. The scholarship program is designed to create a cohort of lawyers who will join international efforts to combat the tobacco epidemic, which kills up to eight million people worldwide each year. It will provide a unique opportunity to gain experience in tobacco control law and public policy through a specially designed program that includes: While there is much to inspire at the Vance Center, the African Legal Fellows program is one of the most exciting initiatives. At the individual level, the program helps fellows develop their transactional skills and business relationships by working side-by-side with lawyers at New York law firms. At the institutional level, the program builds bridges throughout the career between New York law firms and their colleagues in Africa. Through this program, the Vance Center is building a cadre of lawyers across Africa who will have a positive impact on all aspects of advocacy in their countries and in particular on public service If you are a former Harvard South Africa Fellow, join the HSAFP LinkedIn group so you can stay in touch with other Fellows. both current and past. Former New York lawyer Evan Davis traveled to South Africa in 2002 to find out how lawyers of color behaved in commercial advocacy eight years after the end of apartheid.