Through a generous gift by Jim Perkins, ’63, the Law School will offer two fellowships to qualifying graduates this year to work in East Texas.
The Uni versity of Texas School of Law is committed to broadening employment opportunities for its graduates and to increasing the availability of quality legal representation available across Texas, particularly in those areas of the state that are most in need of lawyers and the wide range of services that lawyers can provide; East Texas is such a region.
The average debt of a student graduating from UT Law School is $60,000. The East Texas Fellowship Program would pay up to $10,000 of the debt each year for three consecutive years. Graduates working in East Texas under this program would not be limited to any particular type of legal work. This program has the potential to make major positive change in the legal environment in the East Texas area.
Through a generous gift by Jim Perkins, ’63, the Law School will offer two fellowships to qualifying graduates this year; one of the fellowships has already been awarded.
Perkins, a practicing attorney, has been president and chairman of the Board of Citizens 1st Bank of Tyler, Jacksonville, Rusk, and Nacogdoches since 1971. While he has been president, Citizens 1st Bank has been both the most profitable bank in Texas and rated as the safest bank in Texas. He received his BBA and JD from the University of Texas, where he was vice president of the Student Body and named Outstanding Student.
Perkins is a former board member of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, after being appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush, and is the former chairman of the Board of Regents of Stephen F. Austin State University, where the College of Education is named after him. He is former Rusk City Attorney and Cherokee County Attorney, served two years active duty as an officer in the United States Navy, and is an Eagle Scout. His civic records include being named Outstanding Citizen of both Tyler and Rusk. Perkins is also a past president of the UT Law Alumni Association.
If you are interested in supporting the East Texas Legal Outreach Program, or are interested in supporting this effort in another region of the State, please contact UT Law’s Development Office at 512-232-1939.