Cravath in the Community

Cravath employees participate in the annual Armory NYC Indoor Marathon alongside more than 1,000 other runners. As a sponsor of the New York Road Runners event, our contributions help benefit the Armory College Prep program. The program aims to make a college degree attainable for under-resourced New York City public high school students.

Cravath participates in a biannual Blood Drive with the New York Blood Center. NYBC is one of the largest independent, community-based, nonprofit blood centers in the United States.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Cravath hosts a clothing drive for Bottomless Closet, a nonprofit dedicated to helping disadvantaged New York City women enter the workforce and achieve success. For over 20 years, Bottomless Closet has been giving women the tools they need to ace their job interviews, start new jobs, excel in their careers and build self-sufficiency.

Since 2010, Cravath has participated in a co-op program that gives high school students at Cristo Rey New York the chance to gain valuable work experience while directly contributing to the cost of their education. Students work one day per week in various administrative departments, giving them opportunities to further develop their value of hard work, responsibility and ambition.

In February 2019, Cravath and Fisk University, one of the nation’s historically black colleges and the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee, announced the launch of the Cravath Scholars program. The program, which supports high‑achieving Fisk students studying across a range of disciplines, strengthens Cravath’s historical ties to the University. Scholars are supported with tuition assistance and a summer internship in Cravath’s New York office, including training and mentorship opportunities.

Established shortly after the end of the Civil War, Fisk University’s founders included noted abolitionist Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, whose son, Paul Drennan Cravath, would go on to become a named partner in the Firm. Erastus Cravath served as the first President of the University, a role he held for more than two decades, raising his family on the grounds of the Fisk campus. Sharing his father’s passion for the mission of the school, Paul Cravath served in various leadership roles at Fisk for 45 years.

The Fresh Air Fund has been serving children from New York City’s toughest neighborhoods since 1877 and has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.8 million low-income New York City children. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend one of five Fresh Air Fund camps located in Fishkill, New York. Our support for the organization arose out of the September 11th tragedy, when the Cravath, Swaine & Moore September 11 Relief Fund made a contribution to the Fresh Air Fund to support its Camping Weekends for children and families who lost a close relative. Since then, Cravath has continued to partner with the organization. For example, one day each summer, a group of Cravath attorneys put down their briefcases and smartphones and head to a Fresh Air Fund camp for a day of sports, hiking and arts and crafts. The attorneys connect with campers through the Counselor for a Day program. Whether playing soccer, tie-dyeing T-shirts or enjoying a homemade slip-and-slide, the day is an opportunity to spend time with kids, answering their questions and mentoring them. The campers are always very excited to have us at the camp, and the day is incredibly rewarding and fun.

Cravath London supports Jeans for Genes, a U.K. charity that raises money for children with genetic disorders. On the annual Jeans for Genes Day, businesses and schools across the country participate by wearing jeans to work or school and by making a donation. Contributions go toward funding for the care and support of children with genetic disorders, in addition to the research being conducted to better their futures.

Knock Knock, Give a Sock is an organization that collects the most needed, but least donated article of clothing for those experiencing homelessness: socks. Through Cravath’s relationship with Knock Knock, Give a Sock, we help sponsor and volunteer at the annual KKGS Holiday Carnival that provides over 300 kids living in homeless shelters across New York City with holiday cheer.

Since 2001, Cravath has participated in the Legal Aid Society’s Holiday Party for Homeless and Other Vulnerable Children. The Firm collects toys, books and games for the children and donations to help pay for the party. Volunteers from Cravath participate before, during and after the party, sorting and bagging gifts, decorating the hall and tree, and participating in activities with the children, such as arts and crafts, face painting and serving food and drinks. The party is hosted for approximately 500 children and their families who are or have been homeless, and who are struggling to make ends meet. For many of these families, the Legal Aid Society Holiday Party is the only source of holiday gifts.

For over a decade, Cravath has participated in the March for Babies walk. The March of Dimes is leading the fight to find the cause of and to end premature births and has raised more than $2 billion since its founding in 1938. The three-mile March for Babies walk takes place in more than 900 communities across the country, and the money raised supports research for pre- and post-natal care, helping mothers have full-term pregnancies to give babies the chance they deserve. March of Dimes also brings support and information to families with babies in newborn intensive care units across the country.

For over 20 years, Cravath has participated in a holiday gift program sponsored by New Alternatives for Children, a not-for-profit organization serving children with medical disabilities and/or chronic illnesses. The organization’s goal is to enable these children to remain in, or return to, their homes whenever possible. Firm employees choose gift tags containing a child’s name and gift wishes, then purchase the gifts listed on the tag. Cravath helps to ensure that every needy child in New Alternatives receives a present for the holiday season.

On an annual basis, Cravath’s African American/Black Affinity Group and NYU’s Black Allied Law Students Association join together for a community service project that is coordinated by the New York Restoration Project. NYRP partners with local communities, public agencies and the private sector to acquire, create, maintain and program public open spaces. By working with NYRP, Cravath employees are able to volunteer and contribute to the beautification of community gardens.

Cravath belongs to the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit and nonpartisan business organization that works with government and community leaders to promote economic growth and maintain the City’s position as a global center of opportunity and innovation. In 2020, Cravath participated in the first ever PFNYC Career Discovery Week, a program in which high school sophomores across New York City engaged in various programming geared toward workplace readiness and skill building. Cravath employees participated on a career panel and then led a mock trial exercise.

Since 1994, Cravath has participated in the Prep for Prep program, which identifies intellectually talented students from low-income minority group backgrounds, prepares them for placement in leading independent schools and provides a sense of community, peer support, post-placement services and a range of leadership development opportunities. In addition to providing financial and volunteer support to the program, the Firm hires Prep students into meaningful positions during the summer, giving them the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and gain exposure to the professional workplace.

Cravath has partnered with Read Ahead!, a reading-based mentorship program that helps students develop the social-emotional skills essential for academic and lifelong success, since 2000. As part of this annual program, all Firm employees are eligible to read with a child from P.S. 51, a local elementary school, on a weekly basis and provide consistent encouragement and motivation throughout the school year. Cravath participates in an annual book fair, in which a portion of the proceeds are given to the program.

The School for Law and Justice is the result of an innovative collaboration between Cravath, The Urban Assembly and the New York City Department of Education. The Brooklyn high school, which opened its doors in September 2004 and which graduated its first seniors in June 2008, uses a curriculum that Cravath attorneys helped develop to weave law into all aspects of learning. Cravath has been a full partner of the school from the start, donating money, computers and furniture, and even helping paint the hallways in SLJ’s first building. And since SLJ moved into its new campus in 2008—a renovated courthouse on Adams Street—Cravath has continued its unique relationship with the school. Today, Cravath participates in a variety of programs with SLJ, including the Shipwrecked Sailor Exercise, Dog Bite Trial, Moot Court Programs, Brother-2-Brother Mentoring Program and the Cravath Academy. Partner Wes Earnhardt co-chairs the SLJ board.

Cravath partners with Sharebite, a mission-driven food ordering platform. With every food order placed on Sharebite, Cravath employees can keep socially conscious behavior top-of-mind and ensure that the impact the Firm has on our communities goes even further beyond the work we do for our clients, every single day. For each order a Cravath employee makes, Sharebite donates one meal (or 2% of an order) to help feed a child facing hunger in New York City.

Increasing the number of diverse lawyers in the legal profession starts with introducing students to the law early on. That’s where the Thurgood Marshall Summer Law Internship Program enters. The program places diverse New York City public high school students with legal employers for the summer. As a strong supporter of the program’s mission, each summer we hire a Thurgood Marshall Intern. The Firm’s interns work in one of our administrative departments, receiving exposure to the law firm and informal mentoring throughout the summer. They attend an annual luncheon where partners offer valuable advice and insight on the path to becoming a lawyer. The New York City Bar also provides the interns with additional programming before, during and after the summer designed to help them prepare for a legal career.