Brooks Pierce is pleased to announce that Jillian Chen Johnson and Hillary Scott have been selected as the 2023 recipients of its Chief Justice Henry E. Frye Diversity Summer Fellowship.
The fellowship is open to any student who is a member of a community historically underrepresented in the legal profession, who is in a full-time law program at an American Bar Association accredited law school with plans to practice in North Carolina. It includes a salaried summer associate position in one of Brooks Pierce’s three offices as well as a $10,000 scholarship. It also carries the possibility of a $5,000 scholarship after completing Brooks Pierce’s summer program and a $25,000 stipend upon starting at the firm as a first-year associate.
Johnson is a first year student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, Columbia University. She is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Association, Black Law Student Association, OutLaw, Women in Law and serves as a class representative for the Asian American Law Students Association at UNC. Johnson's areas of legal interest include business litigation, labor and employment and real estate.
Scott is a first year student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She is a member of the American Constitution Society, Black Law Student Association and Women in Law at UNC. Scott's areas of legal interest include business litigation, media and entertainment, and labor and employment.
Frye, who retired from Brooks Pierce in 2016, broke many racial barriers during his long and storied career. In 1963, he was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, one of the first African-Americans to be appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney in the South. In 1968, Frye became the first African-American to be elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in the 20th Century. He served in the North Carolina House for 12 years and was then elected to a two-year term in the North Carolina Senate. In 1983, Frye became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and in 1999 he was appointed Chief Justice, another first. When he left the bench in 2001, Frye returned to private practice, joining Brooks Pierce, where he focused on appellate advocacy, mediation and commercial arbitration.
For more information on the fellowship, click here.