From 2018 – 2025, Public Counsel and Sullivan & Cromwell supported a recurring two-year salaried fellowship opportunity to work with Public Counsel, open exclusively to Stanford Law School students following graduation. The program is not currently accepting applications. The first Sullivan & Cromwell Fellow at Public Counsel was Katie McKeon, JD ’17. Deanna Rafla-Yuan, JD ’20, Alero Egbe, JD ’22, and Jacob Maddox, JD ’23, were also Sullivan & Cromwell Fellows.

About Public Counsel
Public Counsel is the nation’s largest not-for-profit law firm specializing in delivering pro bono legal services, working with major law firms and corporations to change people’s futures. Its staff of 71 attorneys and 50 support staff—along with more than 5,000 volunteer lawyers, law students and legal professionals—directly assists nearly 30,000 individuals each year and provides services benefiting more than 350,000 underserved people, including thousands of vulnerable children and hundreds of nonprofit organizations, small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs. Founded in 1970, Public Counsel works to achieve three main goals: protecting the legal rights of disadvantaged children; representing unaccompanied minor immigrants, and immigrants who have been the victims of torture, persecution, domestic violence, trafficking and other crimes; and fostering economic justice by providing individuals and institutions in underserved communities with access to quality legal representation.

About Sullivan & Cromwell and Its Commitment to Pro Bono
S&C provides the highest-quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. Through its network of 12 offices on four continents located in leading financial centers, S&C provides highly integrated legal services to many of the world’s leading companies in their most important domestic and cross-border matters. S&C considers pro bono work to be an important commitment of every lawyer and a tool with which lawyers can supplement and bolster their skills. S&C’s efforts include individual pro bono initiatives and ongoing, long-term “signature projects.” The variety of matters handled and the results the Firm achieves represent expertise across practice groups.

Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder
The Sullivan & Cromwell Fellowship is a result of the work Sullivan & Cromwell did, in partnership with Public Counsel and others, in the landmark Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder case. Sullivan & Cromwell donated all of the fees it was awarded in the Franco case to its public interest co-counsel.

Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder resulted in what commentators have noted is the first major expansion of Gideon v. Wainwright. Sullivan & Cromwell, Public Counsel and our co-counsel secured a right to counsel for those suffering from severe mental illnesses in immigration hearings, bond hearings with counsel, and joint motions by the government to reopen immigration cases brought by eligible class members.