Badawi, Crowl Receive Baker & Daniels Diversity Scholarships
Two second-year students at the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington have been named the recipients of Baker & Daniels' second annual $10,000 diversity scholarships.
Omar Badawi and Gillian Crowl were selected by the Baker & Daniels diversity executive committee to receive the scholarships, which also include a place in the firm's summer associate program. There were 19 applicants for the diversity scholarships, which were established in 2007 for students of varied ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds. Lifestyle, disabilities and unique viewpoints are also considered when selecting law students for the award. Second-year law students at IU-Indianapolis, IU-Bloomington and the University of Notre Dame are eligible for the award.
Badawi, an Egyptian-American, is a member of Phi Delta Phi international legal fraternity and the Intellectual Property Association at IU. In 2008, he was an Indiana Supreme Court intern in the Chambers of Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and Justice Theodore R. Boehm. From 2004-07, Badawi worked with the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative in Washington, D.C. as a program officer.
Badawi earned a bachelor's degree in political science and biology from Concordia University in Montreal in 2002 and a master's degree in political science from McGill University in Montreal in 2005. He is proficient in French and speaks Arabic. Badawi has completed the U.S. Marine Corps Marathon and Indianapolis Mini-Marathon.
Crowl, a Jamaican, is president of IU's Black Law Student Association. She volunteers as a Monroe County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and teaches fifth graders about the law and constitution in Outreach for Legal Literacy. In 2008, Crowl was a summer associate at Stites & Harbison PLLC in Louisville, Ky. She also worked as a research intern for the Vera Institute of Justice's Center on Immigration and Justice in New York City and as a pre-law coordinator for the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program in Ithaca.
Crowl earned a bachelor's degree in history and sociology from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2006 and a master's in public administration from Cornell University in 2008.
The scholarships are one of the first such programs 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.