Harlem Native Helps Black Women Access Law School
3.25.2025
The New York State Bar Association is honoring Harlem native Talia Scott with its prestigious Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Scholarship for her work in creating a fund to help black women get accepted to law school.
Scott founded the non-profit Legally BLK Fund, which helps black women pay for law school application fees, LSAT preparation classes and travel expenses tied to applying for law school. The fund has given out more than $60,000 in aid to applicants and is expanding to include mentorship and professional development.
“Talia Scott is a one-woman pipeline, helping dozens of young women succeed in law school,” said New York State Bar Association President Domenick Napoletano. “In just five years, Talia’s Legally BLK Fund has helped more than 50 women. Talia is carrying on Justice Ginsburg’s legacy of gender equity by making dreams come true for women entering the legal profession.”
In her application essay, Scott detailed how an early experience in high school providing microloans to women in the developing world fueled her passion for girls education, women’s rights and gender equality. “When you invest in women, you help lift them uplift themselves and strengthen their communities,” she wrote.
Scott is the daughter of an immigrant parent raised in Harlem. While attending Haverford College on a full scholarship, she continued to work to support her family. Working as a paralegal after her college graduation, she helped her once-undocumented mother navigate the path to citizenship.
In nominating Scott for the scholarship, NYU School of Law School professor Melissa Murray described how Scott “has modeled a stalwar committment to using the resources at her disposal to rectify the lack of representation in the legal profession.”
Following her graduation from NYU School of Law this year, Scott plans to work in business law while still leading the Legally BLK Fund.
The $5,000 scholarship is presented by NYSBA’s Women in Law Section, the Committee on Annual Awards and the Committee on Civil Rights. Created in 2020 after the death of Justice Ginsburg, the scholarship is designed to honor Justice Ginsburg’s principles including elevating the standard of integrity in the legal profession, fostering a spirit of collegiality and promoting the public good. The award will be given at the association’s House of Delegates meeting on Saturday, April 5, in Albany.
