Ellis Injury Law Announce Diversity Scholarship Award Winners

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. - Aug. 25, 2015 - PRLog -- Ellis Law is pleased to announce the winners of their first diversity scholarship awards, presented to students who are members of an ethnic or racial minority or who have demonstrated a commitment to issues related to diversity as part of their school or community.  Applicants were asked to submit an essay in response to the Supreme Court’s decision banning affirmative action in college admissions, discussing whether affirmative action is necessary for encouraging diversity in higher education and whether alternatives that maintain diversity exist in this setting.

Three scholarship award winners
Ellis Law received several strong entries this year, but ultimately narrowed the field to three winners whom we announced on July 30.  Each student received a $1,000 scholarship.  Elaine Ejigu, who accepted her award at Ellis Law’s El Segundo office, will enter Southwestern Law School this fall after graduating with honors with a BA in Feminist and Legal Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Riki Burroughs has just finished her first year at Grambling State University in Louisiana.  And Catherine Hoang will be attending Barnard College in New York as an undergraduate this year.  Ms. Burroughs and Ms. Hoang both plan on enrolling in law school following undergraduate careers.

The three award winners expressed disparate views on the subject of the Supreme Court’s ruling.  Ms. Ejigu wrote that “Affirmative action is necessary for U.S. colleges and universities because discriminatory housing and school funding policies leave low income minorities at a disadvantage academically in comparison to their white peers.” While Ms. Burroughs argues that “No student should have to feel they are being judged based on their race/ethnicity. Affirmative action is not a way to correct racial discrimination; it hurts minority students more than it helps them.”  Alternatively, Ms. Hoang believes that “There is no system or person in America that is truly ‘race-blind'; as such, it would be a gross injustice to support initiatives like race-blind college admissions.”

Los Angeles law firm supports diversity in higher education

Ellis Law is pleased to support these three future attorneys through our scholarship program.  We are leading trial lawyers in Los Angeles who represent victims of negligence, motor vehicle accidents, catastrophic injury and wrongful death.  Our goal in granting these scholarships is to promote diversity in schools of higher education and in the field of law at large. For more information about the firm and our work, please visit http://ellisinjurylaw.com/. (http://ellisinjurylaw.com/)