UALR’s Bowen School of Law receives $1 million from cigarette settlement

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law has received more than $1 million that will create a more affordable pathway to a law degree for Pulaski County residents and future law students who want to practice law in the county.

The money is part of the charitable component left over in a $45 million cigarette settlement fund. The charitable distribution ends a 14-year false advertising lawsuit against Marlboro Lights manufacturer Philip Morris USA. The funds will be split evenly between the Dean R. Morley Pulaski County Bar Foundation Scholarship Fund at the Bowen Law School and the Public Interest Litigation Scholarship Program Fund at the University of Arkansas Law School.

UA Little Rock’s donation of $1,091,148 is expected to generate around $40,000 annually for the Morley Scholarship endowment, said John DiPippa, interim dean of Bowen Law School. The additional funds for the Morley endowment make this one of the largest scholarship funds at Bowen and will help many more students achieve a law school education.

Approximately 10% of the 2016-17 applicants to Bowen Law School were from the central Arkansas area, including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville, Sherwood and Maumelle.

The Dean R. Morley Pulaski County Bar Foundation Scholarship is awarded every year to a UA Little Rock Bowen Law student in good standing who is a resident of Pulaski County and/or demonstrates a commitment to practicing law in Pulaski County upon graduation. Financial need is strongly considered.

Brothers Judge Randy Morley and Steve Morley established this scholarship in 2007 to honor their father’s legacy of serving others. Dean Morley served as a North Little Rock district judge during his career and was also the president of the Pulaski County Bar Association.