Putting Their Money Where Their Beliefs Are

Will County lawyers offering unique scholarship to help promote diversity

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Members of the Will County Legal Opportunity Scholarship Program committee are, from left: Phillip Villasenor, Shenonda Tisdale, Rolonda Mitchell, Hon. Donald DeWilkins, Jaya Varghese and Chris Spesia.

For perhaps the first time in Will County history, several bar associations in Will County have come together to offer one black or Latino law student a really significant scholarship.

The scholarship recipient will be “eligible to receive up to $46,000 to help repay outstanding legal education debt,” the Will County Bar Association website said.

In return, the scholarship recipient will be expected to practice law in Will County. Scholarship committee members said the purpose of the scholarship is to encourage diversity among the legal community in Will County.

The concept started about six months ago with Chris Spesia of Spesia & Taylor Attorneys at Law in Joliet.

“The events of last year were troubling for everybody,” Spesia said. “So I started to think what we could do that would be positive.”

Spesia started making some calls and discussing ideas, which led to the formation of an official scholarship committee.

Read the full press release at:
shawlocal.com