LOS ANGELES – MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) is proud to announce the recipients of its 2020-2021 Law School Scholarship Program. Since its founding in 1968, MALDEF has awarded scholarships to law students committed to furthering our mission of promoting and protecting the civil rights of the Latino community in the United States.

“Issues of race and civil rights dominated the 2020 election, and they continue to be paramount in our national policy discourse; at the same time, Latinos have now been the nation’s largest minority group for 18 years, and Latinos accounted for over half the nation’s total population growth in the last decade,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “Plainly, our nation needs more lawyer-advocates serving the Latino community, and MALDEF is proud to assist these exemplary young future lawyers in reaching their goal of representing Latinos in the legal system.”

In recent years, MALDEF has awarded five to 15 deserving students scholarships of $2,000 to $10,00 each. The 2020-2021 recipients will each get $5,000. MALDEF’s Law School Scholarship application is open to any student enrolled at an accredited U.S. law school. The recipients are selected by a national Law School Scholarship Committee of leading attorneys.

The scholarship committee assesses applicants based on personal background and financial need;
academic and extracurricular achievement; demonstrated commitment to serving the Latino community, shown through academic, extracurricular, or professional record of service, and future plans to advance the rights of Latinos.

This year, there are 12 recipients, studying at schools such as the CUNY School of Law, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, St. Mary’s University School of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law, Southwestern School of Law, UC Davis School of Law, UC Irvine School of Law, UCLA School of Law, and Yale Law School.

All of the recipients have a passion for protecting the civil rights of Latinos. Several of the winners come from families separated by the immigration system and want to work to reunite families. Others are DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients who want to fight for a permanent pathway to citizenship. All of the winners are children of immigrants.

“It is an honor to be able to help this next generation of legal advocates and leaders realize their ambitions. Our country and the Latino community need their leadership and advocacy more than ever, and MALDEF’s Law School Scholarship program is proud to support them,” said Jose Sanchez, MALDEF board member, Deloitte Global’s Senior Managing Director and Americas Lead Counsel, and chair of this year’s committee. “We are grateful to the major funders of the scholarship and the program’s committee members for their dedication to our recipients and to the future of our legal profession.”

Applications for MALDEF’s 2021-2022 MALDEF Law School Scholarship Program, are available for download at our website, www.maldef.org. The deadline to apply is February 4, 2022.

Donations may be made to MALDEF’s Law School Scholarship Program HERE.

A complete List of MALDEF’s 2020-2021 Law School Scholarship recipients and brief bios of each can be found HERE.