The firm’s Minneapolis office will welcome three law students as Nelson Mullins’ summer associate program gets underway this week. Among the fresh faces is Anzario Bernard Serrant, who is pursuing his LL.M. degree in business law at the University of Minnesota Law School.

One of the 87 summer associates whom Nelson Mullins will host this year, Serrant comes to the firm by way of the Twin Cities in Diversity in Practice (TCDIP). It is a nonprofit association with more than 70 law firms and corporate legal departments, who share a collective vision to create an inclusive legal community and to recruit and retain lawyers of color. In the Twin Cities, only 7.2% of lawyers are people of color compared with the general population, which is close to 20%, according to TCDIP.

“As someone who has raised outside the United States and has lived in various countries, I hope my background and upbringing will provide a unique benefit to Nelson Mullins,” Serrant said.

Serrant earned a Bachelor of Law degree in global law from Tilburg University in the Netherlands in 2022 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2020. At UNC Charlotte, he minored in legal studies, data science and Japanese and served as president of the Japanese Speaking Practice Club. He attended high school in St. Maarten in the Windward Islands.

He will be working with partner Jenny Covington and associate Taryn Ryan during his 10-week stint.

“The summer associates get an idea of what it’s like to practice at a law firm and decide whether it’s right for them,” said Covington, who serves as the hiring partner in the Minneapolis office and supervises its summer associate program. “In turn, we get to know them.”

Typical assignments include writing and research as well as opportunities to attend hearings, depositions and calls with clients.

Through the TCDIP program. Serrant will also spend time at an in-house legal department, where he will be exposed to the practice of law from that perspective.

“He will see both sides of the coin,” explained Covington.