Recipient of the 2015 Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship Announced

The Alabama Law Foundation proudly announces that Amber Busby has been awarded $4,750 as the 2015 winner of the Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship. As Allison Skinner, chair of the scholarship committee, explains, “In 2006, the Women’s Section of the Alabama State Bar, along with the Alabama Law Foundation, established The Janie L. Shores Scholarship to support a female Alabama resident attending an Alabama law school.” The Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship is named in honor of the first female Alabama Supreme Court Justice, who was elected in 1974.

Amber, a Homewood, Alabama native, graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences and a double major in Spanish and History. At the University of Alabama she was a member of the University Honors and International Honors College. Other notable achievements include being named an Honors College Innovator, serving as Vice President of Alpha Gamma Delta, Student Government Association Senate Assistant, a member of Order of Omega leadership honor society and Phi Alpha Theta history honor society. Amber has continuously worked to assist in financing her college and law school career and gained knowledge of government functions as a professional staff member on the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations and staff assistant with Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. She has used her fluency in Spanish as an English tutor in Spain and as a Spanish tutor in Tuscaloosa, AL and Washington, D.C. Amber plans to continue working as a law clerk between law school terms. With a passion for underserved women and children, Amber volunteers as a tutor and mentor, is a member of the Dorbin Association and has raised money for Turning Point of West Alabama. Amber has the unique honor of being the first scholarship recipient whose mother, Ginger Busby, is an attorney. Amber expressed her respect of women in law and her appreciation of the scholarship, “With my mother as an attorney, I am even more appreciative of women in the practice of law. I am honored to be the recipient of this prestigious scholarship that recognizes the contribution of women in the profession, particularly Justice Shores. I am so grateful for this financial assistance, and with it, I will do my best to make the members of this profession proud.”

Amber was recognized at the Maude McLure Kelly Award luncheon held Friday, July 17, 2015, during the Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. The luncheon is named in honor of Alabama’s first woman lawyer, who continued blazing pathways by becoming the first woman lawyer in the United States to plead a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. A silent auction, held the evening after the luncheon, raised money for the scholarship. Allison Skinner states, “We appreciate all the donors and supporters of the Women’s Section’s Silent Auction at the Annual State Bar Meeting every year since its inception. Their support of our silent auction over the past seven years has allowed us to provide a very meaningful scholarship to fine recipients like this year’s scholarship recipient, Amber Busby. We recognize the rising cost of tuition and hope this financial support to such a deserving law student encourages female participation in the legal profession while honoring a terrific role model and jurist.”