Rhode Island Bar Foundation Thomas F. Black Jr. Memorial Scholarship

The Rhode Island Bar Foundation’s Thomas F. Black, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 1989 to support and foster high legal practice standards by assisting Rhode Island residents who show promise that they will become outstanding lawyers and who need financial assistance to study law. The Scholarship is in honor of the late Thomas F. Black, Jr., a person known for his impressive ability as a lawyer and banker, his deeply rooted legal scholarship and his notable participation in civic and charitable causes. The objective of the Bar Foundation’s Scholarship Program is to support high legal practice standards in Rhode Island by providing financial assistance to Rhode Island residents who show promise that they are likely to become outstanding lawyers, hopefully in Rhode Island, who will adhere to such standards and who will need such assistance in order to study law at quality law schools.

For the academic year 2019 – 2020, the Foundation intends to grant two scholarships in the amount of $20,000.00 each. The Foundation’s Scholarship Committee seeks applications from candidates without regard to race, color, religion, country of ancestral origin, handicap, age, sex, or sexual orientation. The Committee will endeavor to make awards to assure that, over time, the recipients reflect the diversity of the Rhode Island population. The scholarship is a one year, non-renewable award for full-time students who are Rhode Island residents entering their first year of law school in September 2019.

Scholarship awards shall be exclusively for tuition and related expenses for persons who enroll as full-time students in programs leading to the award of the L.L.B. or J.D. degree offered by law schools located in one of the United States or in the District of Columbia and which are accredited by the American Bar Association. Each Scholarship award will be made on the basis of:

• Demonstrated financial need, based upon your personal and family financial circumstances, as well as the extent in which you have helped to finance your undergraduate career by past and present part-time and/or fulltime work efforts;
• Superior academic performance;
• Community and public service, and
• Details as to the reasonable likelihood that you will in the future provide and contribute highly professional legal services to the citizens of Rhode Island.

If further information is needed, please contact Ginny Caldwell at the Rhode Island Bar Foundation office at (401) 421-6541 or email: gcaldwell@ribar.com.