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Appeals for the Third Circuit . On September 19 , 1992 , various bar leaders convened a special event entitled “ Just The Beginning – A Celebration of Integration of the Federal Judiciary ,” which honored both Judge Hastie and Judge James Parsons , the first African- American United States District Court Judge , on his retirement after thirty-one years on the federal bench . Inspired by the events of that weekend , JTB was founded as a not-forprofit organization of judges , lawyers , and others dedicated to developing educational programs to inspire and foster careers in the law among students of color and from other underrepresented groups , from middle school through law school .
Today , JTB continues this mission by
offering pipeline programs directly aimed at inspiring young students and increasing diversity in the legal profession and the judiciary . These programs include the Middle School and High School Summer Legal Institutes , an Advanced Summer Legal Institute , law student externships , law student scholarships , programming in schools that target under-served and minority high school and college students , and biennial conferences that bring together diverse legal leaders of local communities .
After considering a number of worthy nominees , the DEI Committee unanimously selected JTB as the recipient of the College ’ s 2023 DEI Excellence Award . JTB Program Director Cristina Figueroa , pictured below , accepted the award on JTB ’ s behalf .
ACB Scholars Program . The DEI Committee of course had particular familiarity with and admiration for JTB because , for each of the last two years , the College has partnered directly with JTB to sponsor and fund six bankruptcy court summer internships for accomplished law students of diversity . This year ’ s stipend recipients , now known as American College of Bankruptcy Scholars , also had an opportunity to attend and participate in the College ’ s semi-annual meetings in Austin , as well as the concurrent annual meeting of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges , in October .
For more on our 2023 ACB Scholars and the College ’ s sponsorship of judicial internships , see the separate article that appears beginning on page 22 of this issue of College Columns .
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