Press Release
01/24/07 -
Vedder Price Awards 2007 Diversity Scholarship
[Chicago, January 24] – The law firm of Vedder Price announces the winner of its annual Diversity Scholarship Award for minority law students in Illinois. Elijah M. Watkins, a first year law student at the University of Illinois, will receive a $5,000 stipend for each of his three years of law school and is guaranteed a position in Vedder Price’s award-winning Summer Program for 2007. The Firm created the Diversity Scholarship to promote the advancement of diverse law students and, ultimately, greater diversity within the legal community.
The award was presented by Douglas M. Hambleton, Chairman of the Firm’s Executive Committee and Lawrence J. Casazza, Chair of the Firm’s Diversity Committee. James V. Garvey, Chair of the Firm’s Associate Hiring Committee also participated in the selection process. “We are delighted to make this award to Elijah Watkins, a truly exceptional candidate,” said Mr. Hambleton, “As a Firm, our goal is to promote diversity both internally and within the profession at large, and we appreciated the large number of applications we received. We look forward to bestowing many more such awards in future years.”
Mr. Casazza noted that “the Firm had seen a number of excellent candidates for the 2007 award. We are absolutely delighted with the level of participation that our scholarship program is receiving.”
Mr. Watkins has received numerous awards for speech and debate competitions, and was selected to be a 2003 Eisenhower Scholar, one of 14 delegates to South Africa. He has also contributed within his community as a youth soccer coach and debate instructor and judge. In 2005 he organized a local benefit concert for Tsunami victims, raising thousands of dollars in donations.
Mr. Watkins is a graduate of Brigham Young University (B.S., 2006), where he was elected and served as Student Body President. In 2006 Mr. Watkins was presented with the Herbert J. Grant Scholarship for overcoming adversity, and was chosen as the 2006-2009 Board of Visitors Scholar by the UICUC School of Law.
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