The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Nominating Committee is accepting nominations for president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and Zone directors representing Zones 8, 9, 10 and 11. The position of vice president is eligible to serve three one-year terms. The positions of treasurer and secretary have no term limits. The Zone director positions are eligible to serve a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms.

Current board officers eligible for re-nomination include President Jeffrey M. Bower, Vice President Samuel D. Miller III, Treasurer Larry Coploff and Secretary Christine Hall McClure. Zone directors eligible for renomination include Zone 9 Director Kim D. Morton, Zone 10 Director Michael B. Jones and Zone 11 Director Kelly Mroz. A nominee must be or become a Foundation Fellow, Life Fellow, Keystone Society or Commonwealth Club member upon election. Additional board service requirements may be found here. 

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume by April 1 to Tyrone A. Powell, Chair, Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Nominating Committee, P.O. Box 186 Harrisburg, PA 17108-0186 or via email.

Those nominated will stand for election at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation scheduled for May 16 in Lancaster. 

HARRISBURG (Jan. 17, 2019) — Rebecca Marsnik, a third year law student at Penn State University Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, was awarded the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Joseph T. McDonald Memorial Scholarship.

Established in 2013, the scholarship annually provides $3,000 to a fulltime, 3L Pennsylvania resident involved in the Penn State Dickinson Law trial advocacy program whose goal is to pursue trial advocacy after graduation.

Marsnik is actively involved in several programs in preparation to be a trial advocate. She is currently the executive vice chair of the Moot Court Board where she served as the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition Advocate from 2017-18, a National Trial Team Advocate, a coach of two moot court teams and a leader in the 1L mock trial program. In 2017, Marsnik received the Intra-school Moot Court Most Valuable Advocate Award for her work in helping students hone their advocacy skills.

Her other activities include being the associate editor and comments editor of the Dickinson Law Review and a member of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity. In addition, Marsnik has held internship positions for Judge Martin C. Carlson; the Department of Justice, Civil Division, Environmental Torts Section; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the Minnesota Twins.

Marsnik received a B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 2015.

The Joseph T. McDonald Memorial Scholarship Fund is administered by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. For more information on this and other scholarships, visit www.pabarfoundation.org.

The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation recently named Faith Deredge of Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, Marcus Gaines-Cherry of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in Pittsburgh and Samuel “Trey” Manning III of Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law in Carlisle as the 2018 James W. Stoudt Memorial Scholarship Fund award winners. Each recipient received $3,000.

The scholarship was named to memorialize a steadfast supporter of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, James W. (“Jim”) Stoudt, who was instrumental in the creation of the Pennsylvania Bar Trust, where he served in many capacities for more than 40 years. Awarded annually, it provides three $3,000 scholarships, two of which are specifically designated to support minority law students, to candidates attending any of the nine accredited law schools serving Pennsylvania.

A legal intern for the office of Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., Deredge is dedicated to seeking even-handed justice and support of vulnerable populations such as communities of color, the LGBT community and domestic violence survivors as a trial lawyer or prosecutor. She belongs to the Temple Law Political and Civil Rights Society and was its staff editor from 2017-18, the ABA Section of Litigation Minority Trial Lawyer Committee serving as Practice Points editor and Black Law Students Association serving as its vice president from 2017-2018. Deredge also volunteers at the National Lawyers Guild Expungement Clinic.

Gaines-Cherry hopes to continue his work as an advocate in the public sector to ensure all citizens have civil rights and liberties, regardless of their race and socio-economic background. This past summer, he worked with the Education Law Center of Pittsburgh conducting legal research projects and comprehensive memo drafting on a range of education policies. At University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Gaines-Cherry participates in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, University of Pittsburgh Graduate & Professional Student Government, Pitt Legal Income Sharing Foundation and the Pitt Black Law Student Association. Active in his community, he is involved with Praying Pelican Missions and Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center.

Manning intends to work toward creating fundamental reform of the American criminal justice system by helping to end mass incarceration and changing the current sexual assault procedures. Last summer, he assisted in identifying possible wrongful conviction cases through the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. At Dickinson Law, Manning serves as president of the Black Law Student Association and event chair of the Public Interest Law Fund. He currently volunteers at the Bethesda Mission Expungement Clinic as an expungement coordinator.

The James W. Stoudt Memorial Scholarship Fund is administered by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Association For more information on this and other scholarships, visit www.pabarfoundation.org.