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.
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 Law San Francisco
- 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.
Please familiarize yourself with each component of the application and give yourself ample time to complete each section. It is each student's responsibility to ensure that the deadline is met and that they submit the evaluation form to their instructors with time for them to complete it. A completed application includes: The downloadable application (with cover sheet), resume, personal statement, and legal writing evaluations.
Application Process
Application requirements: https://www.sccba.com/bamscp/student-application-requirements/
Download Application: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:3ca828fd-99a4-452b-97b8-7578bc374952
If you have any questions about the Program, please contact the BAMSCP Co-Chairs (Jennifer Leung and Cara Mae Muhammad) via email at bamscpcochairs@gmail.com.