"Accolades" A periodic update of the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship.

According to the ABA Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession, in 1990, minorities comprised almost 25 percent of the population of the United States. However, minority representation in the legal profession in that same year was under seven and one half percent. When he took office in August 1999, President William G. Paul announced that one of the primary efforts of his presidential term would be to address diversity in the legal profession.

As part of President Paul's initiative to increase diversity in the legal profession and at his request, the ABA Board of Governors, at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta, established the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund. The Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, established within the Fund for Justice and Education, is intended to encourage racial and ethnic minority students to attend law school and to provide financial assistance to those in need.

The goals of President Paul's diversity initiative are to increase minority participation in the legal profession by encouraging members of racial and ethnic minorities to consider law as a career and to provide increased opportunities for minorities already in the profession. Financial aid to minority law students is an essential part of the initiative.

The ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarships were awarded beginning with the 2000-2001 academic year. The Scholarship Fund awards $5,000 of financial assistance annually to each scholarship recipient attending an ABA-accredited law school. Assuming the recipient achieves satisfactory performance in law school, an award made to an entering freshman may be renewed for two additional years, resulting in financial assistance totaling $15,000 during his or her time in law school. A scholarship committee, comprised of representatives from ABA entities, the national minority bar associations and at-large members, has been created to screen the applicants for the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund.

The response to the creation of the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund has been tremendous. Together, Bill and Barbara Paul, and his law firm, Crowe & Dunlevy, initiated the program by pledging $100,000 to establish the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund. To date, over $1.7 million in pledges and contributions has been raised for the Scholarship Fund. In addition to pledges and contributions from individuals, corporations and law firms, ABA entities have been extremely generous.

With continued support of members of the legal community, the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund will be able to impact diversity in the legal profession by encouraging and supporting racial and ethnic minority law students for the next ten to twenty years.