LONG BEFORE landing at Harvard Law School, Victoria White had laid the foundation
for a career working on behalf of historically disenfranchised communities. She majored in Women’s Studies at Spelman College, graduating magna cum laude. She then
went to Capitol Hill to work at the nonprofi t Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
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many people who studied law… lobbyists and lawyers… people working for nonprofi ts,” says White, 26, who is in her second semester at the Cambridge, Mass.-based law school. “T e President and First Lady both have law degrees. I saw everything you can do with a law degree, and I fi gured it would help me become the best I can be, which is important to better serve.” As law school tuition rates continue to climb across the nation, the decision to pursue a law career is more daunting than ever. To help students cope with the fi nancial burden, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) designed the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. (LMJ) scholarship program. Since its inception in 2005, the LMJ program has helped 136 highly qualifi ed and exceptionally skilled students from diverse socio- economic backgrounds like White to pursue law degrees. T e scholarship made White’s decision to attend law school an easy one. “I think it makes a big diff erence. In these economic times, some of the interest on certain loans is starting to incur before you get out of school,” says White, who is expected to graduate in 2015. “So you try to avoid taking out more loans.” T e United Negro College Fund (UNCF) recruits and vets the applicants for the MCCA scholarship program to produce a steady supply of minority and economically disadvantaged candidates for corporate law. T e applicants
I DIVERSITY & THE BAR® MAY/JUNE 2013
t was in the nation’s capital, where both egre- giously oppressive and seminally liberating American legislation originates, that White decided law would be the vehicle through which she could address the pressing issues of equality in contemporary society.
“Having been on the Hill, I had so much exposure to so
must complete FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) documentation, have above a 3.2 GPA and an interest in corporate law, and write an essay that demonstrates leader- ship qualities. T ere is no LSAT score requirement. Last year 562 students completed the application. In 2011 and 2010, 613 and 812 students, respectively, applied for the program. From those applications, UNCF vets the applicants and narrows the fi eld down to the top 40 prospective students. MCCA awarded 15 scholarships to students slated to matriculate in 2015 (who entered law school in fall 2012). T ree applicants are chosen as alter- nates in case the winners choose to forgo law school. T e number of scholarship awardees has fl uctuated between 19 and 15 since the program began.
White joins 14 other recipients in the 2015 LMJ scholar- ship graduate class: Adam Amir, KeAndra Barlow, Malinda Bridges, Christine Chan, Kendell Coates, Derrick Davis, Celeste Jackson, Luis Landeros, Kelsey Leonard, Emily Ly, Kathy Nguyen, Ingrid Perez, Anthony Pettes, and Andre Scott. All applicants must be U.S. citizens who plan to attend law school full-time during the day. Chosen students receive an initial $10,000 award aimed at off setting costs in the fi rst year of law school. T e students then compete for additional fi nancial disbursement over the next two years by submitting academic scores and another essay. T e essay must demon- strate non-quantifi able academic excellence, participation in community service, and commitment to diversity. Of the more than 400 scholarship programs UNCF coordinates, the LMJ scholarship is the only one for legal students. White plans to use this rare opportunity to pursue a career in transactional and intellectual property law on
MCCA.COM
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