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New Fund To Build Next Generation of Civil Rights Lawyers

A new scholarship from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) will support the training of civil rights lawyers in the South.

The Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP), launched earlier this week, will help fund law school scholarships, internships, and fellowships for 50 aspiring civil rights lawyers who commit to practicing civil rights law in pursuit of racial justice in the South for at least eight years after their fellowship, according to an LDF press release.

“The Marshall-Motley Scholars Program is the next phase of our commitment to identify and invest in a new generation of brilliant minds who have a deep personal desire to bring about racial justice in the South,” Sherrilyn Ifill, LDF’s President and Director-Counsel, says in the press release.

WHAT THE PROGRAM COVERS

The MMSP is funded by anonymous donors and amounts to $40 million in investments with hopes of building a new generation of civil rights lawyers in the South.

Over the next two decades, MMSP will fund the following:

• A full law school scholarship for tuition, room, board, and incidentals
• Summer internships that offer civil rights lawyer training
• A two-year postgraduate fellowship at a national or regional civil rights organization with a racial justice law practice in the South
• Access to special trainings sponsored by LDF and the National Academy of Sciences

The program is named in the honor of civil rights leaders including Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley.

“This investment in building the next generation of civil rights attorneys is essential in our quest for justice and equality,” Joel Motley, son of the Hon. Constance Baker Motley, says in the press release. “A well-trained, committed, and passionate group of brilliant litigators will defend the rights of Black people across the South, dismantling the structures of white supremacy that continue to suppress our communities. As deeply concerning recent events have made clear, there is much work to be done to ensure equal rights for Black Americans. This is the right time for LDF’s investment in the MMSP, and I am delighted that future civil rights attorneys will carry forth my mother’s legacy and continue the work she began as an LDF attorney.”

Sources: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Marshall-Motley Scholars Program