{"id":123035,"date":"2025-06-15T16:42:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T00:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/15\/midsize-firm-refuses-to-back-down-on-its-diversity-scholarship-program-despite-trumps-dei-threats\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T16:42:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T00:42:51","slug":"midsize-firm-refuses-to-back-down-on-its-diversity-scholarship-program-despite-trumps-dei-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/15\/midsize-firm-refuses-to-back-down-on-its-diversity-scholarship-program-despite-trumps-dei-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Midsize Firm Refuses To Back Down On Its Diversity Scholarship Program, Despite Trump\u2019s DEI Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are concerned about the efforts that the Trump administration has taken to disparage and dismantle DEI efforts that are lawful and that are designed to open doors of opportunity and give more people the chance to succeed based on their merits. Now more than ever, we hold steadfast to our values and our conviction that expanding opportunities and access within the legal profession will always be the right thing to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have not changed our criteria or selection process in response to either the\u00a0SFFA v. Harvard<\/em>\u00a0opinion or to the Trump administration\u2019s actions, and we see no reason to. Our Diversity Scholarship program is lawful, anti-discriminatory, and aligned with our core values and professional ethics. We are proud of how the program has positively impacted the legal profession over the years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/i>Laurie Carr Mims<\/a>, managing partner of Keker Van Nest & Peters, in comments given to The Recorder<\/a>, concerning the firm\u2019s diversity scholarship, which awards a total of $100,000 in funds to first-year law students each year. This year\u2019s Keker diversity scholars were selected as they \u201ceach demonstrated a deep commitment to service and advocacy, a passion for litigation that started well before law school, and because they embodied resilience, grit and determination.\u201d <\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Midsize Firm Refuses To Back Down On Its Diversity Scholarship Program, Despite Trump\u2019s DEI Threats<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are concerned about the efforts that the Trump administration has taken to disparage and dismantle DEI efforts that are lawful and that are designed to open doors of opportunity and give more people the chance to succeed based on their merits. Now more than ever, we hold steadfast to our values and our conviction that expanding opportunities and access within the legal profession will always be the right thing to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have not changed our criteria or selection process in response to either the\u00a0SFFA v. Harvard<\/em>\u00a0opinion or to the Trump administration\u2019s actions, and we see no reason to. Our Diversity Scholarship program is lawful, anti-discriminatory, and aligned with our core values and professional ethics. We are proud of how the program has positively impacted the legal profession over the years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/i>Laurie Carr Mims<\/a>, managing partner of Keker Van Nest & Peters, in comments given to The Recorder<\/a>, concerning the firm\u2019s diversity scholarship, which awards a total of $100,000 in funds to first-year law students each year. This year\u2019s Keker diversity scholars were selected as they \u201ceach demonstrated a deep commitment to service and advocacy, a passion for litigation that started well before law school, and because they embodied resilience, grit and determination.\u201d <\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day. We are concerned about the efforts that the Trump administration has taken to disparage and dismantle DEI efforts that are lawful and that are designed to open doors of opportunity and give more people the chance to succeed based on their merits. Now more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Staci-Zaretsky-W0hqdA.jpeg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}