Fish & Richardson Announces 2011 Diversity Fellows

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Apr 11, 2011) - Fish & Richardson announced today its 2011 1L Diversity Fellows -- Flora Amwayi, Dr. Shamoor Anis, Carlos Espinoza, and Kevin Kantharia -- who were selected from over 300 candidates. Each Diversity Fellow will receive a $5,000 academic scholarship, mentoring by an attorney at the firm, and a paid 2011 summer associate position in the office of their choice. Fish launched its 1L Diversity Fellowship Program in 2005 to help attract and recruit diverse first year law school students from across the U.S.

"Our goal is to attract top diverse attorney candidates from around the country at an early stage in their legal careers and provide positive experiences and career-building opportunities that will directly benefit the student, the firm, and the legal profession in general," said Nancy L. Stagg, a principal at Fish & Richardson's Southern California office and Chair of the firm's Diversity Initiative. "This is our sixth year with our 1L Diversity Fellowship Program and we are thrilled with the response we have received. The program has been a resounding success in helping us attract the best of the best candidates to our firm."

Flora Amwayi, who is a student at Harvard Law School (2013), has a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Amwayi will work in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.

Dr. Shamoor Anis, who is a student at the Duke University School of Law (2013), has a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology, a B.S. in electrical engineering, and a B.A. in policy studies from Rice University. Dr. Anis will work in the firm's Dallas office.

Carlos Espinoza, who is a student at Columbia Law School (2013), has an M.S. and B.S. in computer science from the University of Southern California. Mr. Espinoza will work in the firm's Southern California office.

Kevin Kantharia, who is a student at the University of San Diego School of Law (2013), has a B.S. in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic University. Mr. Kantharia will work in the firm's Southern California office.

Three Fish 2010 1L Diversity Fellows will also be returning to the firm for a second summer. These include:

Ricardo Bonilla, who has a B.S. in software engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas and is a student at Texas Tech University School of Law (2012), will work in the firm's Dallas office.

Dr. Xiaoguang "Michelle" Gao, who has a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from Northwestern University, a B.S. in biology from Beijing Normal University, and is a student at the University of Illinois College of Law (2012), will work in the firm's Boston office.

Dr. Robert Yeh, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, an A.B. in chemistry from Princeton University, and is a student at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (2012), will work in the firm's Southern California office.

Fish & Richardson is a leading global law firm with more than 350 attorneys and technology specialists practicing intellectual property strategy and counseling, intellectual property litigation, and business litigation. Fish does cutting-edge legal work for innovative clients who value their intellectual property. For over 130 years, Fish has been serving great innovators, helping protect countless ideas, nurturing discoveries, and facilitating the entry of new concepts to market. The firm has been ranked the number one patent litigation firm in the country for seven straight years (Corporate Counsel, 2003-2010), a top IP firm for America's biggest companies (Corporate Counsel, September 2010), and an elite Tier 1 IP litigation, patent prosecution, ITC, and Life Sciences firm (Managing Intellectual Property, February 2011). Fish was honored as an IP Firm of the Year (Law360, January 2010), named a finalist for top IP Litigation Department of the Year (American Lawyer, January 2010), and was named the number one firm in the U.S. for PCT filings (Managing Intellectual Property, October 2010). The firm also handled two of the top ten most important IP cases of 2009 (Managing Intellectual Property, January 2010). For more information, visit http://www.fr.com.