Brooks Pierce Announces First Recipient of Frye Diversity Fellowship

05.29.2018

Brooks Pierce is pleased to announce that Stephanie Turner, who just completed her first year at Duke Law School, has been selected as the first recipient of its Chief Justice Henry E. Frye – Brooks Pierce Diversity Summer Fellowship.

The fellowship includes a salaried summer associate position in one of Brooks Pierce’s three offices as well as a $10,000 scholarship. It is open to a student from an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority who is enrolled in a full-time law program at an American Bar Association-accredited law school and plans to practice in North Carolina.

Turner has an avid interest in education and employment law. She is an alumna of the University of Georgia, where she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in political science with minors in women’s studies and African-American studies. After college, she spent a year running an afterschool and summer program in Georgia for 30 underrepresented and disadvantaged children.

Turner was selected as a fellow for the Duke Center on Law, Race, and Politics. She is active on campus, serving as a board member for the Black Law Student Association and volunteering for the Duke Law Innocence Project and Teen Court. Turner is also a member of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section and Law Student Division.

“We’re thrilled that Stephanie has been selected as the first recipient of this fellowship from a pool of highly qualified and remarkable applicants,” said Reid Phillips, managing partner of Brooks Pierce. “Already she has shown a lot of promise as a future lawyer and her background demonstrates tremendous dedication and resilience. We believe this fellowship will provide her with an opportunity to grow and expand her skills and learn more about employment and education law while working alongside our team of attorneys.”

Announced in December 2017, the Chief Justice Henry E. Frye – Brooks Pierce Diversity Summer Fellowship was named after a retired Brooks Pierce attorney who broke several racial barriers during his distinguished career. In 1968, Justice Frye was the first African-American to be elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in the 20th Century and served in the North Carolina House for 12 years before being elected to a two-year term in the North Carolina Senate. In 1983, he became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina and, in 1999, he was appointed Chief Justice, another first. He retired to private practice in 2001, joining Brooks Pierce where he focused on appellate advocacy, mediation and commercial arbitration.

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