Frost Brown Todd (FBT) has announced the recipients of the firm’s 2017 Diversity Scholarship. Launched in 2010, the scholarship fund annually awards financial assistance aimed to support diverse students in their education and exploration of law.
“Diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a law firm,” says Kim Amrine, FBT Director of Diversity and Inclusion. “The FBT Diversity Scholarship Fund helps promote a pipeline of diverse attorneys in our legal community. It also serves as an extension of the mentoring and support that our attorneys provide to local law students.”
The FBT Diversity Scholarship Committee spent numerous hours reviewing applications from a large group of highly qualified candidates. “Choosing five to receive the scholarship was an extremely challenging and humbling task given the quality of the responses we received,” says Committee Chair Justin Fowles. “We are pleased to award these five deserving individuals and are excited to invest in the future of a diverse legal profession.”
The 2017 scholarship award winners are law students from the University of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Pennsylvania:
Candise E. Caylao, originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a second-year law student at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. Described as a star among her peers, she has achieved the highest degree of academic success while serving her community in various capacities. Caylao, who earned an MA in Justice Administration before entering law school, is an admissions ambassador and academic fellow at Brandeis, while also actively involved in the Black Law Students Association, Parents Attending Law School, Mock Trial and the Louisville Central High School Partnership.
Dani K. Ingram-Farris is a second-year law student at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. Ingram-Farris is president of the law school’s Chase Pride Club. She has been recognized on the Dean’s List and in the Lunsford Honors Program. After graduating cum laude with a sociology degree from Thomas More College in 2012, she worked as a social worker. In the summer of 2017, she served as a law clerk for Legal Aid of the Bluegrass.
Souhila EL Moussaoui currently attends her third year of law school at the University of Louisville. Of North African heritage, EL Moussaoui grew up in France, where she received her high school and undergraduate education. During her time at Brandeis, she has taught Street Law through the Central High School Partnership and has served as a student member of the Citizen Review Panel on Child Welfare in Jefferson County. She currently teaches in the Marshall Brennan Program, a collaboration to enhance the quality of life for residents of West Louisville by improving education attainment. EL Moussaoui was an FBT summer associate in 2016.
Gibran J. Peña-Porras, originally from Mexico, is a second-year law student at the University of Cincinnati. After immigrating to the United States and becoming a naturalized citizen at the age of 16, he earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at El Paso. He serves as the president of the UC Latino Law Student Association and regularly presents on law topics for Hispanic entrepreneurs in the Cincinnati area in collaboration with organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Hamilton County Development Company (HCDC), and the Greater Cincinnati Microenterprise Initiative.
Shannon G. Reid is a first-year law student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Following her graduation from the University of Cincinnati, summa cum laude, in spring 2017, she served as a summer intern for the Honorable Susan J. Dlott at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. She also worked as a student coordinator for The Summer Work Experience in Law (SWEL) program, where she supervised more than 20 legal interns. Reid is the founding director and an honorary member of The BIG RED and Black Mentorship Program (BRB), which promotes college readiness and career success among students at Hughes STEM High School in Cincinnati.