Culhane

Hernandez

Schwartz

Terman

Torrez

47 win Foundation scholarships

They donated their time to the homeless, high-risk juveniles and women prisoners. They volunteered their services to indigent battered women immigrants, the California Innocence Project and children in foster care. They worked for causes such as housing and employment rights, environmental protection and animal rights. The organizations benefiting from their good will and fledgling expertise are too numerous to list.

For their efforts, 47 law students at 16 California law schools received scholarships from the Foundation of the State Bar this year.

In addition to financial need and academic achievement, the scholarship candidates must demonstrate a commitment to public service.

This year's scholarships included six $7,500 exceptional merit awards, nine $5,000 merit awards and 32 $2,500 awards, totaling $125,000. 2003 marks the 11th anniversary of the scholarship program, and during that time, $1,192,500 has been awarded to 308 students. The recipients were enrolled at 24 different law schools.

The Foundation of the State Bar seeks and provides funding for programs and projects that educate the public about their rights and responsibilities under the law, encourages ventures that increase access to the legal system for the poor and middle class, and supports law-related causes. California lawyers may contribute when they pay their bar dues by checking off a box on the fee statement.

The scholarships are underwritten by corporate sponsors UPS, Chase Home Finance, MBNA America and West, a Thomson company.

A partial list of the recipients follows:

• $7,500 exceptional merit scholarship — Heather Alexander, Golden Gate University Law School; Jennifer A. Culhane, Whittier Law School; Irma Hernandez, UCLA School of Law; Angie Schwartz, Stanford Law School; Sharon Terman, Stanford; and Janae Torrez, USC Law School.
  
  
• $5,000 merit scholarship — Margaret Chang, UCLA; Martha Cody-Valdez, Golden Gate; Anagha Dandekar, University of California, Davis School of Law; Rashida Edmondson, Stanford; Brianna Fuller, Loyola Law School; Amy Loeliger, UCLA; Cassandra Seebaum, Hastings; Sarah Varela, Stanford; and Ray Ybarra, Stanford.

Thirty-two students received $2,500 scholarships.