HARRISBURG, Pa. (Jan. 4, 2023) — The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation named Talia Kowalski, third-year student at Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle; and Ty Parks, second-year student at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in Philadelphia, as 2022 James W. Stoudt Memorial Scholarship Fund award winners. Each recipient will receive $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, the fund offers up to 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.
After law school graduation, Kowalski plans to join a small family law firm that specializes in divorce, custody and protection orders in York County. Throughout law school, Kowalski has worked to hone her trial advocacy skills. As a first and second-year law student, she won “Best Attorney” during the intraschool mock trial competition and earned a spot on the law school’s national mock trial team. Her other activities include participation in the Triston “Chase” O’Savio Moot Court Competition, and serving as an outreach member, Penn State Dickinson Law’s Public Interest Law Funds; member, Chief Justice and Society of Scholars, Phi Alpha Delta, Dickinson Law Burr Chapter; and admissions and library student assistant, Penn State Dickinson Law. In addition, she will be a Dean’s Fellow for the class of 2023. In her final year of law school, Kowalski intends to work with attorneys and coaches to improve her skills for legal practice. Her legal work experience includes serving as a law clerk for Cordell & Cordell in Buffalo, New York; student attorney for Children’s Advocacy Clinic at Dickinson Law in Carlisle; and legal intern for the YWCA Domestic Violence Legal Center in Harrisburg.
Parks’ mission after law school is to help provide access to quality and equitable resources and opportunities for people in Black and brown communities in Philadelphia. Immediately following graduation, his primary interest is to advocate for formerly incarcerated individuals to help them navigate life after imprisonment. He later plans to transition to high-impact litigation and policy development related to this area of need. Working toward his goal while at law school, Parks has served as an intake and communications coordinator for the school’s Criminal Record Expungement Project, and community liaison for the Walk in Legal Assistance Project. He is also an associate editor for University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change, co-advocacy chair for the Penn Black Law Student Association and a research assistant. In summer 2023, Parks plans to work in Philadelphia as an Employment Unit summer intern at Community Legal Services, and a return for a second law clerkship at Willig, Williams & Davidson. Previously, Parks was a legal intern at the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia and a civil rights litigation paralegal at Neufeld Scheck & Brustin LLP in New York City.
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.