Kansas City law firm gifts $1M to MU to assist aspiring Black lawyers, journalists
A Kansas City law firm is donating $1 million to the University of Missouri to support Black students pursuing careers in law and the university’s journalism school.
The firm, Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP, announced the gift in a news release Wednesday. The $1 million will be evenly divided between two scholarship funds for students enrolled at Mizzou’s School of Law and for the School of Journalism’s Alfred Friendly Press Partners, which trains journalists from countries with underdeveloped media.
In a statement, co-founder of the law firm Patrick Stueve said the gift is an example of its commitment to being “an agent of positive change in the legal system.”
“It is critical that we support diverse legal minds to serve as our next generation of attorneys, advocates, judges and legislators, and it is critical that we support journalists who can bring transparency and accountability to governments around the world,” Stueve said in the statement.
The firm, which is celebrating its 20-year anniversary, recruits heavily from Mizzou. It donated another $1 million earlier this year to the University of Kansas School of Law to establish a scholarship program for Black law students there.
In the news release, university leaders thanked the law firm for the gift.
“Increasing the diversity of the legal field is one of the most important goals of Mizzou Law and is vital to ensuring an equitable and just society,” Lyrissa Lidsky, dean of the law school, said in a statement.
Randy Smith, a professor in the School of Journalism, called the gift “transformative,” saying it “underscores the continuing generosity of the firm – and their strong belief that a free press can change our world for the better.”
