DLA Piper issued the following announcement on April 3:
DLA Piper is pleased to announce that a new class of undergraduate students has been chosen to participate in the firm's Raja Gaddipati Fellows Program, formerly known as the Undergraduate Internship Program (UIP). The program was renamed in 2018 to honor Raja Gaddipati, a DLA Piper partner and strong supporter of the initiative who passed away last year.
The Raja Gaddipati Fellows Program is a diversity pipeline initiative that targets underrepresented undergraduate students who have an interest in going to law school, giving them a broad view of what it is like to work in a large law firm environment. The students go through a rigorous application and interview process to compete for a limited number of seats in the firm's Chicago and Washington, DC, offices. The goal of the program is to support the educational and professional development of these future law school students and lawyers.
This year's participants include Constance Du, Niloo El-Maissi, Christian Correa and Anisha Shah, who will sit in the firm's Chicago office; and Elana Jacob, Rozalyn Wingate, Regina Fairfax and Afi Blackshear, who will be located in the Washington, DC, office. The six-week program will begin June 10 and end July 19.
Since the program's inception in 2009, 47 students have participated, more than three-quarters of whom are preparing for law school, have been accepted to or are attending law school, or have already graduated law school. They have attended Harvard Law School, Georgetown Law School and Columbia Law School, among other institutions, and several participants have returned to work at DLA Piper.
The original source can be found here.