The NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Marshall-Motley Scholars Program provides participants with a full tuition scholarship for law school, paid internships and post-graduate fellowships for students committed to practicing civil rights law on behalf of Black communities in the South.

The Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP) will host a free, virtual information session for interested U of A students at 3 p.m. today, Thursday, Jan. 27.

Join the session online to learn more about the program and how to apply. Applications for 2022 are due Friday, Feb. 11.

"It is a groundbreaking effort to help develop our nation's next generation of civil rights attorneys," said Adria N. Kimbrough, student recruiting manager for the MMSP, who will be hosting the information session.

Kimbrough said the MMSP comes at a time when Black students are facing more barriers than ever to attend law school. Studies show that the cost of a private law school education has grown by a whopping 175 percent since 1985.

According to the American Bar Association, student loans take a disproportionate toll on lawyers of color, often forcing them to take unwanted career paths.

"The support offered by the MMSP is an intentional effort to address the racial and economic barriers that often deter students from pursuing their dreams of becoming civil rights attorneys, and a targeted effort to support the civil rights ecosystem in the South," Kimbrough said.

Over the next five years, the MMSP will afford 50 aspiring civil rights lawyers:

• A full law school scholarship for tuition, room, board and incidentals to alleviate the debt burden that can prevent future lawyers from pursuing a career in racial justice;
• Summer internships at LDF and other national civil rights organizations with offices in the South to begin their training as civil rights lawyers early in their law school careers;
• A two-year postgraduate fellowship at a national, regional or local civil rights organization with a racial justice law practice in the South; and
• Access to special trainings sponsored by the LDF and the National Academy of Sciences.

In return, MMSP Scholars will commit to serving as civil rights lawyers based in the South, engaged in a law practice focused on achieving racial justice for eight years following the conclusion of their fellowship.

Additionally, the MMSP will continue to offer support for the newly emerging civil rights lawyers as they develop their practice and form a distinguished regional network of legal practitioners.

About the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program: Since 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has been committed to racial justice and equity. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF is building on this legacy with the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program. Named in honor of civil rights legends Thurgood Marshall — LDF's founder and the nation's first Black Supreme Court Justice — and Constance Baker Motley, former LDF attorney and the first Black woman to become a federal judge, the MMSP will create pathways to leadership, self-sufficiency, and socio-economic progress, while developing individuals to become ambassadors and advocates for transformational change in Black communities in the South.