There are two distinct types of fellowships at Cumberland School of Law. The Jere F. White Jr. Fellowship is the law school’s premier entering first-year student fellowship. A panel selects the fellow based upon merit and community service. The fellowship promotes the development of lawyers who share the ideals that were so important to the late Jere F. White Jr.
The Rodney A. Max Fellowship recognizes one or more third-year students in the area of mediation and provides the student(s) a stipend to work for the academic year with the Mediation Center director.
The Summer Public Interest Fellowship program provides stipends to rising second- and third-year students who work during the summer in an approved legal job that is nonpaying. The fellowship can be in any geographic location, and it promotes the need for valuable legal work experience.
Jere F. White Jr. Fellowship
One first-year law student is awarded the Jere F. White Jr. Fellowship.
Established by the late Jere F. White Jr., a 1980 graduate, this fellowship seeks to identify outstanding students with strong credentials, a history of leadership, and commitment to service that has been demonstrated during and/or after graduation from college. Preference is given to applicants who have served in the military, Peace Corps, Teach for America or other programs benefiting under-served communities.
The fellowship is the only entering scholarship that requires an additional application.
- A full-tuition scholarship
- A $5,000 annual stipend totaling $15,000 for all three years of law school
- Tuition and lodging for the summer Cambridge study abroad program at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England
- An invitation to join law school faculty at the annual Southeastern Association of Law Schools Conference following his or her second year of law school
- An invitation to join Cumberland School of Law’s Inn of Court
In Memoriam of Jere F. White Jr.
Jere F. White Jr. was a great enthusiast of Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law and an inspiration to everyone who met him. A member of the Cumberland School of Law Class of 1980 and a founding member of the law firm of Lightfoot Franklin & White LLC, White passed away Oct. 3, 2011, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He persistently maintained his positive attitude and unshakeable faith to the very end.
For over 30 years, White handled significant civil cases of all types in state and federal courts in Alabama and throughout the United States. He tried more than 100 jury trials to verdict and was lead counsel in approximately two-thirds of those. Most of his cases were devoted to representing major corporations in products liability, class actions, business torts and multi-plaintiff mass tort matters. In addition, White developed a significant practice representing business plaintiffs in commercial disputes. He also had a significant appellate practice—very few lawyers in the South had the breadth of his experience.
White was one of the few lawyers in Alabama inducted in the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He was also a fellow in the Alabama Law Foundation.
Born and raised the son of a trial lawyer and judge in a small town in north Georgia, White married his childhood sweetheart and had three adult children. He was an elder of Independent Presbyterian Church, a former trustee of the board of Hampden-Sydney College, a member of the advisory board of Cumberland School of Law and a former board member of the Birmingham YMCA. White was a graduate of the University of Georgia.
“Jere epitomized the qualities of a great lawyer and person. He was smart and always prepared. Jere had the respect of judges and other lawyers, and was so well liked by everybody. He had a sense of grace which caused others to embrace him. The fellowship is a tremendous way to honor Jere’s legacy”—Bob MacKenzie '84, Starnes Davis Florie LLP
Rodney A. Max Fellowship
The Rodney A. Max Fellowship recognizes the interest, achievements and scholarship of one or two third-year law students in the area of mediation.
The fellowship was established by Rodney A. Max, a nationally renowned mediator and a 1975 graduate.
A Rodney A. Max Fellow receives:
- A fellowship award for the academic year
- Work for the director of the Community Mediation Center (CCMC), with primary responsibilities being to manage the Samford Residence Life Mediation Program, co-mediate disputes as assigned by the director of the CCMC, and research and write projects as assigned.
About Rodney A. Max
In 1972, after serving in the U.S. Army, Rodney A. Max enrolled at Cumberland School of Law. While in law school, he served as an associate editor on the Cumberland Law Review and as a justice on the Appellate Moot Court Board. He graduated in the class of 1975.
Max served for five years as an adjunct professor at Cumberland School of Law. He created the school’s first mediation course curriculum. In 2005, Max established the Rodney A. Max Mediation Fellowship at Cumberland School of Law. Each year, the scholarship is awarded to at least one law student to recognize his or her achievement in the area of mediation.
Max is a principal with the law firm Upchurch Watson White & Max with offices in Alabama and Florida. He had a successful commercial litigation practice in Birmingham, Alabama, until 1992, when he became Alabama’s first full-time mediator. Max quickly expanded his mediation practice throughout the Southeast, and he has mediated more than 14,000 cases in 33 states; Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Since 2002, Max has resided in south Florida and continues to travel throughout the country mediating catastrophic injuries and damages, as well as numerous mass and class actions.
Throughout his career, Max has been active civically and a leader in human rights and Jewish causes, serving as chairman of the Alabama State Civil Rights Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Questions? Contact Us
Allen Howell, Assistant Dean of Professional Development and Public Interest, 205-726-4300
