This week's Legal Speak features business of law reporter Patrick Smith in conversation with Orrick associates Andrea Mazingo and Walter Alarkon—two of the firm's six inaugural Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Fellows. Orrick established the fellowship program in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd's murder and national protests over systemic racism and inequality. Associates selected for the fellowship are spending 2021 working full-time at partner non-profit organizations focused on civil rights, racial justice, and economic empowerment.

Orrick associate Walter Alarkon. Courtesy photo

Alarkon discusses his work at Common Future, an Oakland-based group that's working to build a more equitable economy through grants and network building. Mazingo is spending her year at A New Way of Life, a California-based re-entry organization that focuses on post-incarceration family reunification. Mazingo breaks down the myriad challenges parents face in regaining custody of their children once they are released from prison.