Scholarships Totaling $180,000 Awarded to Incoming Minority Law Students

San Francisco — September 28, 2010 — The California Bar Foundation today announced the awarding of $180,000 in scholarships to 28 California law students through its Diversity Scholarship Program. Eighteen top awards are named after California law firms and corporations — Buchalter Nemer, A Professional Corporation; Calvo & Clark LLP; Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP; Fenwick & West LLP, Girardi & Keese; Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, A Professional Corporation; Keesal, Young & Logan, A Professional Corporation; Keker & Van Nest LLP; Lim Ruger Foundation; The Morrison & Foerster Foundation; Morrison & Foerster LLP; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Foundation; Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP; SNR Denton; Southern California Edison, An Edison International Company; Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric; and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation — that have made multi-year commitments to the Scholarship Program, including $10,000 gifts in 2010.

"Bolstering the pipeline of diverse individuals planning to pursue a career in law is a critical part of ensuring that the legal profession is able to meet the needs of our clients in an increasingly global economy," said William N. Hebert, President of the State Bar of California and a partner at Calvo & Clark LLP, one of five new sponsors of the Diversity Scholarship Program. "The California Bar Foundation's Diversity Scholarship provides necessary support and encouragement to impressive minority law students, easing the tremendous financial burden of attending law school and aiding them in their quest to become productive lawyers."

Launched in 2008, the Diversity Scholarship aims to help bolster the pipeline of diverse individuals entering the legal profession. With awards of up to $7,500, the Diversity Scholarship alleviates the significant financial burden of attending law school, which can leave recent graduates more than $100,000 in debt, and provides confidence-boosting recognition to law students during the crucial first year of law school. Recipients, who come from communities underrepresented in the legal profession, were selected from a competitive pool of more than 250 applicants based on academic excellence, financial need, and commitment to the community.

"As a first-generation college graduate who relied on scholarship support and the watchful eye of caring mentors, I am inspired by — and in awe of — this year's Diversity Scholarship winners," said Mario Camara, Foundation President and a member of the management committee at Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP, a new Diversity Scholarship sponsor. "The recipients include a community organizer committed to increasing access to higher education for immigrant students, a health care specialist who has worked on HIV/AIDS initiatives in Rwanda and Kenya, an asylee from Somalia who wants to specialize in international human rights law, an anthropologist who plans to combine his expertise in Native American cultural heritage with his law degree to strengthen tribal sovereignty, and a future immigration attorney who triumphed over the poverty and domestic violence her family faced throughout her childhood. By honoring these future lawyers and the potential transformative changes they represent, the California Bar Foundation invests not just in each individual law student, but in the profession's ability to serve the people of California."

The Foundation will distribute the Diversity Scholarship awards at a reception featuring Hon. Richard A. Paez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday, September 30, at the offices of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles. The Foundation will also award $102,500 in Public Interest Scholarships to 23 California law students at the reception.

"The California Bar Foundation's Diversity Scholarship Program is a golden opportunity for law firms like Morrison & Foerster and our clients to support increased diversity in our profession without the administrative burden of running their own scholarship program," said Paul T. Friedman, a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP, which this year began sponsoring a second Diversity Scholarship in partnership with UPS. "It is truly inspiring to meet the scholarship winners and to know that we are helping them realize their potential to succeed as lawyers. We also know that we are helping to change the legal profession itself."

Since the Foundation launched the Diversity Scholarship Program in 2008, it has awarded more than $420,000 to 70 California law students.

The complete list of 2010 Diversity Scholarship winners, by law school, is as follows:

Loyola Law School
Ana Cisneros Alvarez
Sabrina Rivera

Santa Clara University School of Law
Lizbeth Najera Muñoz

Southwestern Law School
Jahmy Stanford Graham — Girardi & Keese Scholar
Martha S. Torres-Ortiz

Stanford Law School
Ashly Nikkole Davis — Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation Scholar
Rakim Johnson — Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin Scholar

UC Berkeley School of Law
Kristen A. Corpion
Sonja Francine Marie Diaz
Nancy Franco — Calvo & Clark LLP Scholar
Homaira Hosseini — Fenwick & West LLP Scholar
Christine L. Ingram — UPS and Morrison & Foerster Scholar
Darren Modzelewski — Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP Scholar
Diana Rashid — Keker & Van Nest LLP Scholar
Jade Smith
Nancy Thai — Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Foundation Scholar

UC Hastings College of the Law
Ana I. Baires Mira — SNR Denton Scholar
Jessica Maria Flores — Keesal, Young & Logan Scholar
Tajuana Gray — Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Scholar
Susana Naranjo — The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Scholar
Esmeralda Santos — Board of Directors Scholar
Eric Yang

UCLA School of Law
Alexander Chavez — Southern California Edison Scholar
Paul Jung — Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric Scholar
Rosa Noyola — Lim Ruger Foundation Scholar
Tania T. Nuñez Amador — Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP Scholar
Yecenia Olmos — Board of Directors Scholar

University of San Francisco School of Law
Naeema Ahmed — Buchalter Nemer Scholar

About the California Bar Foundation
The California Bar Foundation is committed to building a better justice system for all Californians. We champion full and equal access to the justice system, invest in the next generation of California's lawyers, educate Californians about their rights and responsibilities under the law, and promote philanthropy throughout the legal community. A nonprofit founded in 1990 and affiliated with the State Bar of California, the Foundation annually awards grants to California organizations conducting innovative law-related projects and scholarships to outstanding California law students.

Media Contact:
Leslie Hatamiya
Executive Director
(415) 856-0780 ext. 303
lhatamiya@calbarfoundation.org