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J.L. Turner Legal Association Foundation

The JLTLA Foundation is a non-profit institution under Section501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in our community through education, service, and scholarship. The Foundation's Board of Directors has established the following primary goals:

  • Provide legal workshops to indigent residents in the North Texas area
  • Provide scholarships to students demonstrating financial or other needs
  • Provide educational seminars to North Texas area residents

Each year, hundreds of people are expected to benefit from the Foundation's programs. The Foundation projects that its gifts will support a variety of community, legal and educational programs, such as providing annual scholarships to students, legal workshops, and educational seminars for North Texas area residents and attorneys and summer stipends to students who work with non-profit organizations or in the area of public-interest law.

2007 Foundation Board of Directors

 

1.         Vicki Blanton -2007 JLTLA President *

2.         Aaron Ford - 2007 JLTLA President - Elect *

3.         Judge Cheryl Williams - 2007 JLTLA Gala Chair *

4.         Veretta Frazier - filling remainder of 2 year term (expires Dec 2007)

5.         Nick Pittman (expires Dec 2007)

6.         Hon. Royce West – 2 year term (expires Dec 2007)

7.         Stanley Mays – 3 year term (expires Dec 2008)

8.         Judge Phyllis Lister-Brown - 3 year term (expires Dec 2009)

9.         Berna Rhodes-Ford - 3 year term (expires Dec 2009)

 

* 1 year positions that expire each December: JLTLA President, President-Elect, and Gala Chair.

 

Foundation Directors are J.L. Turner Legal Association Members elected at annual meeting of Foundation.

 

2007 Foundation Officers**

 

1.         Stanley Mays - Chair

2.         Berna Rhodes-Ford - Vice Chair

3.         Judge Phyllis Lister-Brown - Treasurer

4.         Veretta Frazier - Secretary 

5.         Nick Pittman - Immediate Past Chair

 

** The Foundation Board of Directors vote to decide which Directors will serve as Officers of the Foundation.

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: SUSMAN GODFREY, LLP ENDOWS NEW MARIE TRAHAN/SUSMAN GODFREY SCHOLARSHIP.

Friday December 28, 2007,

DALLAS, Texas - J.L. Turner Legal Association Foundation ("JLTLA Foundation") received $103,305.00 from the Houston based law firm of Susman Godfrey, LLP.  Ophelia Camina, a partner, and the Diversity Committee Chair of Susman Godfrey, presented the funds to Vicki Blanton, 2007 President of J.L. Turner Legal Association and Stanley Mays, 2007 Chair of the JLTLA Foundation. Susman Godfrey informed the JLTLA Foundation on December 7, 2007 that the firm had voted to grant a minimum of $30,000.00 to the JLTLA Foundation for scholarships. Over the next several weeks, contributions from attorneys and employees at Susman Godfrey increased the final amount to $103,305.00.

The Scholarships are to be awarded in the name of The Marie Trahan/Susman Godfrey Scholarship. Ms. Trahan was an administrative assistant with the firm for 30 years. She passed away earlier this year and the firm wanted to do something in her memory. Chanler Langham, an associate with Susman Godfrey, received a scholarship from the JLTLA Foundation while in law school. He learned what the firm was trying to do in the memory of Ms. Trahan and directed the firm to the JLTLA Foundation. JLTLA Foundation Board Member, Judge Cheryl Williams, explained that, "Based on our track record of awarding scholarships to students in law school, we were one of the organizations that Susman Godfrey considered in donating monies in Marie Trahan's memory."

The selection criteria and the amount of the individual scholarships will be decided by the JLTLA Foundation on an annual basis. However, the stipulations on the Marie Trahan/Susman Godfrey Scholarship are as follows:

  1. The award will retain the name Marie Trahan/Susman Godfrey Scholarship;
  2. The Marie Trahan/Susman Godfrey Scholarships will be available to African-American residents of the State of Texas, who are attending any accredited law school in the United States;

Marie Trahan lived and worked in Houston, therefore, in 2008, a press conference will be held in Houston, Texas with JLTLA Foundation present, along with Marie Trahan's family and members of Susman Godfrey. Also, in 2008, a joint letter will be written by Susman Godfrey and the JLTLA Foundation, and sent to BLSA organizations across the U.S., making them aware of the Marie Trahan/Susman Godfrey Scholarship opportunity.

The JLTLA Foundation extends its gratitude to Susman Godfrey, LLP for their very generous gift. Stanley Mays, states that JLTLA Foundation looks forward to the opportunity to financially assist more minority law students from Texas, so that they may reach their dreams of joining the ranks of the legal profession. 2007 JLTLA President, Vicki Blanton, says that she truly hopes that the Susman Godfrey gift will resonate as a challenge to other law firms to step up their contributions and their commitment to diversity.

 

 
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