Special Scholarship Announced
Friday, May 4, 2012 @ 1:30 PM
Prince George, B.C.- The Law Society of B.C. has announced a special scholarship to encourage Aboriginal students to study law.Law Society President, Bruce LaRose, (in photo at right) made the announcement this afternoon in Prince George,. An annual scholarship of $12 thousand dollars will be made available "We know that the public is best served when the legal profession reflects the population and Biritish Columbia is a culturally diverse place " says LaRose.
The scholarship is a second step to increase diversity within the legal profession.
Last year, the Society launched a mentoring initiative to help retain Aboriginal lawyers in the province as well as improve access to legal services for First Nations peoples. LaRose says Aboriginal lawyers are “significantly underrepresented in the legal profession and this has important implications regarding access to culturally appropriate legal services. In addition, the public is best served by a more representative and inclusive profession”.
The Aboriginal community represents 4.5% of the population in B.C, yet less than 1.4% of all the lawyers in the province are of Aboriginal descent.
The Law Society has also taken steps to address the shortage of lawyers in rural B.C. It is already committed to spending $150 thousand dollars over the next two years for the Rural Education and Access to Lawyers initiative. That initiative is focused on placing law students in rural law firms for summer experience and the placement of articled students in communities with populations of less than 100,000.
Comments
Excellent idea!
Excellent!
very forward looking, good work
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