This week’s P.S. features the winners of two ABA awards that recognize outstanding public defenders and other public sector lawyers and details on a Dallas law firm’s hefty batch of higher education scholarships being distributed to students in DFW, Chicago and Atlanta to the collective tune of nearly $900,000.
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— Witherite Law Group affiliate 1-800-TruckWreck recently announced that this year will mark a record-breaking donation to fund educational scholarships: $885,000. Included in that total is the firm’s previously reported $150,000 in scholarships awarded to 50 graduating seniors at Fort Worth’s Dunbar High School. The other $735,000 will be donated to students pursuing higher education in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and Atlanta. The firm is administering the funds through its “Making a Difference” scholarship and job readiness programs.
Of the $885,000 being distributed, $425,000 will go to 170 graduating seniors, $407,500 will go to renewed scholarships of 163 previous recipients who maintained at least a 2.0 GPA and took at least 12 credit hours, and $50,000 will be given to 35 participants in Chicago’s North Lawndale Employment Network “Craft Your Path” program. In addition to the North Lawndale Employment Network, 1-800-TruckWreck partnered with Fort Worth ISD, Atlanta Public Schools, the Chicago Urban League and the Nickerson Family Legacy Foundation for these scholarships.
“There is a demand for skilled workers across all industries — especially after ‘The Great Resignation’ of 2021,” Witherite Law Group/1-800-TruckWreck owner Amy Witherite said in a statement. “The best way to learn these skills is to obtain training from a higher education institution. Unfortunately, many new graduates and job seekers opt to forgo such education due to the financial commitment.”
Witherite, the daughter of a teacher, has a heart for helping youth in need to help bridge the gap between them and higher education, the firm said.
“Through our scholarship fund, we hope to make the dream of post-secondary instruction a reality for those who want to attend,” she said. “Doing so could drastically change the trajectory of their lives and set the foundation for multigenerational success.”
— The American Bar Association will present two public sector lawyer awards to Texas-based recipients — or Texas ties to the recipient — at its annual meeting in Chicago in August.
The 2024 Dorsey Award, which honors an outstanding public defender, will go to Houston lawyer Amrutha Jindal, the executive director of Lone Star Defenders. Jindal founded Lone Star Defenders in response to a 2021 memoranda of understanding that the state of Texas executed with 100 ranchers that allowed the state to police ranches, leading to an enormous uptick in the arrest of immigrants for criminal trespassing. Lone Star Defenders, an 80-attorney public defender system, has guaranteed quality representation for thousands of immigrants. The ABA says this endeavor required tremendous effort, including recruiting and training dozens of lawyers and support staff; launching an assigned counsel system that oversees and supports private bar attorneys involved; and creating systems for appointment, case management and oversight. Before becoming a public defender, Jindal practiced for four years at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in the firm’s litigation department.
The 2024 Nelson Award will go to Atlanta-based Sylloris Lampkin, who is an attorney advisor with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. The Nelson Award recognizes superior, sustained contributions to the ABA by an individual public lawyer. Lampkin has served in numerous ABA positions that have elevated the voice of public lawyers, including as the law student outreach committee chair of the ABA’s Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division, which is presenting these awards. In that role, Lampkin organized presentations at multiple law schools to students interested in pursuing public service careers, including three Texas law schools: Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, South Texas College of Law and Texas A&M University School of Law.
The awards will occur from 3 to 4:30 p.m. during the ABA’s General E.E. Anderson Awards reception at the Swissotel Chicago.