The Perfect Gifts and No Bows or Wrapping Paper Are Ever Needed
Commemorating 60 Years of Practice, Birmingham Attorney Donates $100,000 to Scholarship Fund at Alabama Law School

Maurice Rogers, a sole practitioner in Birmingham whose legal career spans six decades, recently donated $100,000 to a scholarship fund at the University of Alabama School of Law.

A 1949 graduate of the law school, Rogers established the Maurice Rogers Endowed Scholarship Fund at his alma mater in 1999 with an initial gift of $100,000. The fund provides critical financial support to deserving full-time students at the law school.

Rogers was born in 1926 in Birmingham, where he grew up in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

In 1943, Rogers volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army and was called to active duty in 1944. In 1945, he returned home to attend and graduate from Birmingham-Southern College, and later, the University of Alabama School of Law.

Rogers has managed a solo practice in Jefferson County–with an emphasis on probate, real estate and litigation–for the last 60 years.

Apart from his hobbies of woodworking and golf, Rogers has written and published two books: John Rogers Genealogy: From Jamestowne to Birmingham in 1989, and My Life Across Nine Decades: Memoirs of Maurice Rogers in 2005.

Rogers and his wife, Peggy Williams Rogers, reside in Hoover and have three children, Edward Maurice Rogers, Jr., who is a 1984 alumnus of the law school; Carol Rogers Bermudez; and Marsha Rogers Howell. The couple has nine grandchildren.

Baker Donelson Announces 2009 Diversity Scholarship Program Recipients

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC announced the selection of this year's recipients of the Baker Donelson Diversity Scholarship Program: Jalil D. Dozier of North Carolina Central University School of Law, Denetra N. Hartzog of Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and Stephanie M. Nowak of the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Dozier, who holds an undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University, served as a judicial intern for the Hon. Michael L. Rankin of the District of Columbia Superior Court and was a legislative intern for the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Hartzog graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University with a bachelor of science degree in business administration and has worked for law firms as a summer associate and legal secretary.

Nowak, a graduate of Montana State University, clerked for the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office and served as judicial assistant and deputy court clerk for the 18th District Court in Bozeman, Montana.

The three recipients were selected from nearly 80 applicants from law schools across the country, such as Boston University, George Washington University, Wake Forest University and William & Mary.

The Baker Donelson Diversity Scholarship Program, established in 2008, awards scholarships annually to diverse law school students who have completed their first year of law school. Baker Donelson awards each recipient a salaried second-year summer associate position in one of the firm's offices. Dozier will work in the firm's Knoxville office, Hartzog will work in the Birmingham office and Nowak will work in the Nashville office. After the completion of the summer associate position, each recipient is then awarded a $10,000 scholarship during the student's third year of law school.

The firm also began a program to reach out to diverse undergraduate students to help them achieve their goal of entering the legal field. "Bringing Diversity to Our Businesses" is designed to develop a pipeline that increases the number of minority and female students who attend law school.

The firm continues to expand its diversity program through inclusion training which focuses on recognizing and accepting the value of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. From December 2008 through April 2009, the training was implemented at the firm's 15 offices and was mandatory for its more than 1,000 employees.

Since the launch of its Diversity Initiative in 2002, Baker Donelson's diverse attorney population and the number of diverse shareholders have more than quadrupled, far outpacing the firm's overall growth. The recruitment and retention of female attorneys and the representation of women in leadership positions at the firm have all improved as well. And diverse student participation in Baker Donelson's summer associate program has grown steadily: 22 percent of their 2009 summer associates were minority, up from 18 percent in 2008 and 14 percent in 2007.

The firm's efforts have been recognized by MultiCultural Law magazine, which consistently ranks Baker Donelson on its annual lists of the "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity" and the "Top 100 Law Firms for Women."

Recipients of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings’s University of Alabama School of Law Scholarships Named

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announces that this year's recipients have been chosen for the firm's University of Alabama School of Law merit-based scholarships. Tim Davis will receive the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Annual Scholarship, and David Miller and Mary Ann Lane will receive the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Endowed Scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Davis is a second-year law student from Tuscaloosa. He graduated, cum laude, from the University of Alabama. Prior to law school, he taught Spanish to high school students.

Miller is a first-year law student from Birmingham and earned his B.A. from Birmingham-Southern College. As an undergraduate student, he studied at Oxford University and served as the president of his fraternity and as treasurer of Mortar Board and the Student Government Association.

Lane is a second-year law student and serves as a junior editor for the Alabama Law Review. Currently in the top 10 percent of her class, she earned Best Paper Awards in Civil Procedure and Legal Writing. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

The firm also funds two other law school scholarships for the University of Alabama, four scholarships for Birmingham-Southern College and two scholarships for Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. It also funds an endowment for the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation Law School Scholarship at the University of Mississippi School of Law. These scholarships reflect the firm's ongoing financial support to a diverse and talented group of local law school students.

Burr & Forman Contributes to Diversity Scholarship at the University of Alabama School of Law and Creates Third Scholarship

Burr & Forman announced that it recently donated one year of full tuition to the University of Alabama School of Law as part of its ongoing commitment to fund the Burr & Forman LLP Annual Diversity Scholarship. The in-state scholarship is awarded to a highly qualified, already-admitted student who adds racial or ethnic diversity to the educational environment in the university's law program. This is one of three scholarships that the firm has established with the law school.

The Annual Diversity Scholarship was founded in 2006 with the goal of fostering a multi-cultured learning environment at the university.

"Burr & Forman is honored and proud to support the University of Alabama School of Law with this scholarship. We believe that contributing to this extraordinary program is not only an investment in a young person's life, but also an investment in creating an educational system that allows everyone to pursue their dreams. We applaud the university for doing an excellent job in creating an atmosphere that is rich in diversity and values different points of view," said managing partner W. Lee Thuston.

In 2009, Burr & Forman created the A. Brand Walton, Jr. Scholarship to honor the memory of the late Burr & Forman partner who practiced in the firm's tax group. Walton received both his J.D. and LL.M. at the University of Alabama School of Law and was also a part-time professor in the law school teaching taxation courses. This scholarship is given primarily to students interested in tax law.

The Burr & Forman LLP Endowed Scholarship was established in 1987 and is awarded to second- or third-year law students whose academic performance has exceeded the level of their peers.

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