CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Chicago-based law firm Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd LLP has awarded its annual diversity scholarship to Northwestern University School of Law student R. Jason Burch. Burch is the sixth recipient of the scholarship Butler Rubin established in 2005 to foster diversity in the legal profession.
Burch is currently a first-year law student at Northwestern University School of Law and expects to receive his law degree in 2013. In addition to a $10,000 renewable scholarship for tuition and other expenses associated with law school, Burch will work as a 2011 summer associate at Butler Rubin.
"Jason has been a leader in his young professional career, including working as a professional athlete, and he continues this tradition as a law student. He is the type of person we look for in our diversity scholarship recipient each year," said Karen M. Borg, a partner and co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee.
A graduate of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Burch received his B.A. in Psychology in 2009. He was drafted as a college junior by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft and served as a minor-league baseball pitcher from 2003 to 2008. Burch served as captain of the Varsity Baseball team and was a two-time College World Series participant and two-time Big XII Conference Champion. During college he also worked as a Communications Executive and Lobbyist for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (2007-2009).
"We are a boutique law firm committed to diversity, and this scholarship gives us the opportunity every summer to establish what we hope turns out to be a long-term relationship with a diverse law student," said Julie Rodriguez Aldort, a partner and co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee.
Butler Rubin created the scholarship program to assist diverse students financially and to create employment opportunities for those students during their law school careers. Students are selected for the scholarship based on high levels of performance and achievement, a strong interest in the private practice of law in the area of business litigation, an intention to remain in the Chicago area following graduation, and outstanding interpersonal and communication skills. Butler Rubin selects one scholarship winner per year.
Formed in 1980, Chicago-based Butler Rubin has established itself as a well-known litigation boutique assisting clients nationally and internationally in the core practice areas of reinsurance and commercial litigation, including antitrust, competition law and opt-out antitrust litigation; business reorganization, bankruptcy and insolvency; class action defense; and products liability and mass tort matters.