SCHOLARSHIP AND SUMMER CLERKSHIP APPLICATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED
The Sarasota County Bar Association Committee on Diversity and Inclusion is now accepting applications for its annual minority summer law clerk and scholarship awards.
Any 1L, 2L or rising 3L student enrolled in an accredited law school who is a member of a minority class as defined by the Florida Bar is eligible to apply. Selection is based on need, merit and other qualifying criteria noted on the application. Preference will be given to those students who have ties to the Sarasota community and who have expressed or demonstrated a commitment to return to Sarasota to pursue his or her legal career upon graduation from law school.
Selected applicants will receive a tuition assistance scholarship in an amount of up to $5,000.00 (payable directly to the student’s law school), and, if summer employment in the Sarasota area has not already been secured, a paid summer law clerk position at a Sarasota private law firm, government agency, non-profit or other entity that has agreed to employ the student for a minimum 10 weeks. In addition to the rich legal employment experience, awardees become summer members of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and will regularly interface with members of the Judiciary, the Bar and other community leaders.
The Committee on Diversity and Inclusion endeavors to increase diversity in the SCBA so that its membership reflects the demographics of our community and state. Accordingly, all scholarship recipients are mentored and encouraged to return to the Sarasota community for future employment upon law school graduation. Since 2007, the SCBA Committee on Diversity and Inclusion has awarded over $110,000 in minority law student scholarships.
The application can be found online. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2018.
For questions or more information, please contact Charlie Ann Syprett, Chair, SCBA Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.