Curtis Joins The Appellate Project to Promote Appellate Practice to Diverse Law Students

Curtis is pleased to announce that the firm is formally sponsoring The Appellate Project (TAP), a non-profit organization whose goal is to help law students of color to thrive in the area of appellate practice. As part of this affiliation, the firm has provided a significant financial contribution to TAP and Curtis lawyers have committed to support TAP’s work through its various mentorship and networking opportunities for law students from diverse communities that are underrepresented in the appellate bar.

“We are excited to partner with TAP as part of our firm’s ongoing efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, including in the highly competitive and impactful field of appellate law,” said Hermann Ferré, litigation partner and chair of Curtis’ Diversity & Inclusion Committee. “Curtis represents a diverse range of clients from around the world and our goal is to achieve a level of diversity throughout the firm, including in our leadership, that reflects the communities in which we operate.”

The first collaboration between Curtis and TAP is a virtual panel discussion on the real-life impact of the Supreme Court case United States v. Vaello-Madero, which involves an equal protection challenge to the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from the Supplemental Security Income program. A team of Curtis lawyers, spearheaded by Hermann, represents Mr. Vaello-Madero on a pro bono basis. The panel will feature Hermann and Curtis senior associate Juan Perla, who has also been working on the Vaello-Madero case, as well as Professor Jasmine E. Harris of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Adriel I. Cepeda Derieux from the ACLU Voting Rights Project. The Zoom event will take place on October 26, 2021, 1 to 2 p.m.