INDIANAPOLIS (08-December-2011) — Baker & Daniels LLP has awarded its 2012 diversity scholarships to Mauri Miller and Danny Thiemann, second-year law students at the University of Notre Dame Law School and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law – Bloomington, respectively. Each student will receive a $10,000 scholarship and placement in the firm's summer associate class.
Established in 2007, the diversity scholarships are awarded to address underrepresentation in the legal profession. Students of diverse ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds, students who self-identify as LGBT, and students who have disabilities are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be second-year law students at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington or University of Notre Dame Law School. Scholarship recipients are selected by members of Baker & Daniels' diversity executive committee.
At the University of Notre Dame Law School, Miller is president of the Sports, Communications and Entertainment Law Forum and the Black Law Students Association, as well as serving as director of corporate relations for the Midwest Region Black Law Students Association. He is also a member of the Hispanic Law Students Association and Legal Voices for Children and Youth, which promotes knowledge and skills related to the legal representation of children. In 2011, Miller was a summer associate at the Madge Bradley Domestic Violence Clinic and a summer intern for the Honorable David Certo in Marion County Superior Court.
Proficient in Spanish, Miller worked in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, during 2008-09 as a teacher for the DREAM Project, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty through quality early education. He first visited the Dominican Republic as an international service learning assistant during college. Miller earned his bachelor's degree in finance and international business from Indiana University in 2009. He studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain, and was president of the university's International Student Exchange Student Council.
Thiemann, who attends the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, has spent his educational career sharpening his legal skills and advocating for justice in a number of countries. In the summer of 2011, he interned with Trilegal, a law firm in New Delhi, India. Thiemann also served as a legal intern with International Bridges to Justice in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 2009 and with the Center for Justice and International Law in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 2010. He returned to Costa Rica in 2011 as an Arthur C. Helton Fellow with the American Society for International Law.
Thiemann received a bachelor's degree in international relations from New York University in 2009 and spent a semester at the American University in Cairo. During college, he interned with the United Nations' Global Security Institute and in Mexico with CivWorld, an initiative aimed at fostering transnational and interdependent solutions to global challenges.
Thiemann spent time in Nablus, Palestine, developing a documentary highlighting educational reform and promise for growth in the West Bank, which was chosen by the Clinton Global Initiative as a 2009 Selected Documentary Film. In 2008, he traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, as a fellow with the Reynolds Youth Venture Foundation.
The diversity scholarship program is the first of its kind offered by Indiana law firms, demonstrating Baker & Daniels' ongoing commitment to attracting and retaining individuals with diverse backgrounds. The firm maintains an active diversity executive committee, which is responsible for various ongoing internal and external diversity and inclusion initiatives.
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Baker & Daniels LLP provides advice and counsel to regional, national and international clients with legal and business needs. With 365 legal and consulting professionals, the full-service law firm has offices in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Beijing. B&D Consulting, the firm's national advisory and advocacy division, is focused on key sectors of the economy and based in Washington, D.C. On Jan. 1, 2012, the firm will combine with Faegre & Benson, which has 450 lawyers, to become Faegre Baker Daniels. The consulting division will become FaegreBD Consulting. The combined firm will have U.S. offices in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and Colorado and international offices in London, Beijing and Shanghai. For more information about Baker & Daniels or B&D Consulting, visit www.bakerdaniels.com or www.bakerdconsulting.com.