Erie, PA, July 25, 2017 —A future Erie County lawyer who will be attending the University of Michigan School of Law this fall is the 2017 recipient of the Chief Justice Samuel J. Roberts Scholarship.

Mercyhurst Preparatory High School graduate Colleen Devine, who in 2016 earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, is this year’s successful aspirant for the scholarship, administered and awarded for the Roberts Family by the Erie County Bar Foundation.

The Chief Justice Samuel J. Roberts Scholarship Committee found that competition for the 2017 scholarship award was extremely keen and one of the most challenging fields of aspirants in the more than quarter century history of the award.  But ultimately, the Committee found that Colleen, who graduated from college with an overall 3.8 grade-point average, exemplified the many qualities demonstrated during the long and distinguished career of the Erie lawyer and judge who rose to lead the Commonwealth’s highest court, becoming one of the nation’s most respected jurists.

In addition to awarding the 2017 scholarship to Devine, the committee, citing the academic success of Erie County’s Kristen Elia at Boston University’s School of Law, and Julia Bensur at Cornell University, renewed the law school scholarships of both of these Roberts Scholarship awardees, Elia for her second year of law school, and Bensur for her third year.

Meanwhile, Devine was selected after the committee recently interviewed 2017’s scholarship candidates.

“The committee had another difficult job this year, given the academic credentials and potential talent of each applicant,” said Sandra Bryon Smith, Erie County Law Foundation executive director. “It was a very tough call, but all were extremely impressed with Colleen’s undergraduate background, her academic excellence, including a 4.0 GPA in her major, her activism with important issues, her diverse international interests and travel experiences, and the course she has set for herself and her future in law.”

In her scholarship application, Devine wrote, “The law connects us through time – by precedent and research. But most importantly to me, the law connects people to one another with a meaningful and important purpose for equitable access to justice … As a Women’s Studies major, I have focused my undergraduate career on studying gender-based health disparities in an academic context, and have also engaged in activism work outside the classroom… ”

Colleen explained that because of her passion surrounding health issues,  after gaining experience at an institutional level, her long-term goal is “… to pursue a career in health law … in a public interest role, providing direct client services or impact litigation focused on policies to alleviate disparities in health outcomes.” During her last semester at the undergraduate level, Colleen had the opportunity to study global health in a comparative setting, traveling to Vietnam, South Africa, and Argentina.

Although grades, class standings, standardized test scores and financial need are all weighed when considering scholarship awards, motivation, personal interviews, community service, passion for the legal profession and broader interests are also taken into consideration by committee members.

Each year, the Chief Justice Samuel J. Roberts Scholarship Committee meets to consider applications from Erie residents entering their first-year at an ABA accredited law school and also scholarship renewals for previous recipients. While there is no mandate that scholarship winners return to Erie County to practice law, the committee encourages local law careers whenever possible.

The committee includes Attorneys Daan Braveman, President of Nazareth College, Tina M. Fryling, Bradley K. Enterline, Dennis Haines, Patrick Michael Livingston, Mary Alfieri Richmond,  Scott T. Stroupe, John J. Mehler, David M. Zurn and William Speros, and lay representatives Kathleen Horan, formerly of Stairways Behavioral Health, and Jeff Pinski, formerly of Edinboro University and the Erie Times-News.