Allen County offers diversity scholarship

The Allen County Bar Foundation is offering a scholarship to diversify the state’s makeup of judges and attorneys. The scholarship is earmarked for current law students and undergraduates interested in pursuing a law degree who come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

The scholarship will provide up to $2,500 to a law student for tuition and fees or for bar exam preparation and up to $1,500 for an undergraduate student preparing to take the Law School Admissions Test.

“We intend to build on last year’s success to continue carrying out our mission of educating individuals about civics and the law,” said Allen Circuit Court Magistrate Ashley Hand, president of the ACBF board. “We believe these scholarships will help create a lasting legacy in our community for improved diversity of lawyers and judges in the years to come.”

According to the ACBF, there are 22,000 attorneys in Indiana and 75% are white, while about 3% are African American and just over 1% is Hispanic.

“While we do not have the statistics for Allen County, we believe the racial and ethnic disparities are the same or greater,” said ACBF Scholarship Committee member Sarah Beiswanger. “Diversity in the legal profession is important for reducing unequal treatment and improving the quality of legal representation of underrepresented groups.”

The application deadline is June 2 with the award announcement by July 1. Click here to learn more about the scholarship program for students in Allen County.