Paul, Weiss launched a new partnership with the Schools Consent Project with an in-person training at Paul, Weiss’s New York office. The Schools Consent Project is a nonprofit that aims to teach young people about consent, with a core belief that education is prevention. Created in the United Kingdom and recently expanded to New York, the project sends lawyers into public and private high schools to instruct students on topics including the legal definition of consent, bystander intervention and key sexual offenses through language that is accessible and educational. The goal is to normalize conversations about consent in order to encourage safe, healthy interactions and reduce the likelihood of young people experiencing or perpetrating harm.

More than 10 volunteer attorneys from Paul, Weiss were instructed on how to present workshops to students through trainings and interactive games and exercises aimed at challenging students’ misconceptions. Following the training, Paul, Weiss attorneys will present workshops individually or in teams at high schools around New York City. The project will continue into the next school year.

The initiative is supervised by corporate partner Lindsey Wiersma and includes corporate associates Lillian Barany, Jude Farah, Rita Gilles, Danielle Goldenberg, Serena Highley, Nisheet Karthikeyan, Sarah Lu, Riana Morales, Breanne Parker, Adrienne Parms and Joelle Rosen; ESG associate Amber Kennedy; and restructuring associate Julia Heasley. The partnership is coordinated by pro bono attorney Emily Donohoe.