Kiah DeBolt, a third year student at The University of Texas School of Law, is the 2019 recipient of the National Association of Women Judge’s Access to Justice Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded annually to a female student at the Law School who has demonstrated a sustained and passionate commitment to the achievement of equality of opportunity and access in the justice system.
DeBolt received the scholarship May 1 in the Law School’s Eidman Courtroom during the annual “Color of Justice” program, the goal of which is to encourage minority high school students from the Austin area to consider law and the judiciary as career paths. Travis County Court at Law Judge Brandy Mueller presented the scholarship. After receiving the award, DeBolt spoke to the students about her journey through law school, which included ongoing medical challenges, assuring them that they have place in the legal field.
At Texas Law, DeBolt participated in the Environmental Clinic and a broad range of activities through the Mithoff Pro Bono Program. She was active in the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society, the Texas Law Disability Alliance, the Environmental Law Society, the Texas Environmental Law Journal, and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. She interned in Austin with Disability Rights Texas, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and Texas Appleseed’s Natural Disaster Recovery and Fair Housing Project. Following graduation, she will work at The Safe Alliance (SAFE) in Austin, assisting survivors of child abuse and neglect, sexual assault, domestic violence, and commercial exploitation on a range of criminal and civil issues.
The 2019 Color of Justice event was cosponsored by the National Association of Women Judges and the Travis County Women Lawyers Association, and hosted by the Law School’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law.