MASSACHUSETTS
BLACK JUDGES CONFERENCE TO HONOR
LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS AT ANNUAL BOOK AWARDS
Boston, MA — In
recognition of excellent academic achievement, the Massachusetts
Black Judges Conference will honor nine Massachusetts law
school students at the seventeenth annual Book Awards Ceremony
in the Stuart House of Boston College Law School on Friday,
April 30, 2004 at 3:00 p.m.
Since
1987, the Massachusetts Black Judges Conference has awarded
stipends to outstanding second-year law students to provide
them with assistance in covering the costs of their law
books.
Massachusetts
Black Judges Conference President and First Justice of
the Woburn District Court Marie O. Jackson said, "During
the 50th anniversary year of Brown v. Board
of Education, the Massachusetts Black Judges Conference
Book Awards ceremony is a two-fold celebration. We honor
the lawyers and judges who were our predecessors in the
fight for equal education and racial justice, and we acknowledge
the bright and accomplished African-American law students—our
lawyers of the future."
Judge
Emogene Johnson Smith, Associate Justice of the Dorchester
Division of the Boston Municipal Court, is the chairperson
of this year’s Book Awards Committee. Judge Milton L. Wright,
Jr., First Justice of the Roxbury Division of the Boston
Municipal Court, will give the keynote address.
The
following students will receive awards: Shalanda Helen
Baker of Northeastern University School of Law, a resident
of Austin, Texas; Angela Gomes of Boston University School
of Law, a resident of Quincy; Ayanti E. Grant of Southern
New England School of Law, a resident of Groton, Connecticut;
Felicia E. Higginbottom of Massachusetts School of Law,
a resident of Roxbury; Marilyn J. James of Boston College
Law School, a resident of Boston; Esi Marjorie Lewis of
Suffolk University Law School, a resident of New Paltz,
New York; Walter Mosley of Harvard Law School, a resident
of Detroit, Michigan; Wayne R. Rock of New England School
of Law; a resident of Dorchester; and Maisha Shaw of Western
New England College School of Law, a resident of Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada.
Candidates
for the Book Awards are recommended by the deans of Massachusetts
law schools. A committee of members of the Massachusetts
Black Judges Conference selects the award recipients based
upon scholarship, leadership qualities, potential trial
skills, and financial need.
The
Massachusetts Black Judges Conference supports and encourages
African-American judges in Massachusetts, and provides
leadership for the exploration and discussion of diversity
issues that affect the courts.
