March 4, 2022 (Above the Law) – Great things happen when Biglaw gives back. That’s the big takeaway from a feel good story out of Los Angeles. But before we get to all the good news, some background.
It was back in 2008 when three Biglaw partners decided they wanted to share the benefits they experienced from policy debate with traditionally underserved communities. Henry Weissmann, a litigation partner at Munger Tolles & Olson; Bart Williams a Proskauer litigation partner; and the late Sandra Seville-Jones, who was the longest tenured managing partner at Munger Tolles, knew one another from their high school debate days, but when they looked around they saw that the high school debate circuit had been decimated by years of budget cuts. So, working with the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues, they put their heads together to create the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League (LAMDL).