Plunkett Cooney recently selected three law school students— Jasmine Bouche, Zarghoona Sakhi and Frances Silney-Bah—to receive $2,500 scholarships based on submissions to the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) essay program.
Sakhi completed her first year of law school at WMU-Cooley Law School and will spend her next year as a rising 2L at the University of Aberdeen School of Law in Scotland. Silney-Bah is a rising 3L at WMU-Cooley Law School. Bouche is a rising 3L at the University of Minnesota Law School.
“The excitement that firm members had with offering this year’s scholarship program was matched by the high caliber of submissions we received from law students around the nation,” said the firm’s Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Laurel McGiffert. “These essays show that diverse students are committed to helping improve diversity and inclusion within the legal industry, and they strongly feel that they can be an integral part of this movement.”
To qualify for Plunkett Cooney’s scholarship program, “diverse students” included, but were not limited to, applicants based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, LGBTQIA+ identity, disability and neurodivergence.
Plunkett Cooney’s DEI Committee members work with McGiffert to coordinate activities, which include a focus on recruitment, retention, training, mentoring and community involvement. Each year, Plunkett Cooney supports numerous affinity groups, community organizations and law school student organizations focused on advancing DEI.
