2017 Recipient Of Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship Announced – July 17, 2017

The Women’s Section of the Alabama State Bar, along with the Alabama Law Foundation, proudly announces that Krystina T. Jackson has been awarded $6,000 as the 2017 winner of the Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship.

The Janie L. Shores scholarship, created in 2006, supports a female Alabama resident attending an Alabama law school. As Christina Crow, chair of the scholarship committee, explains, “The Women’s Section of the Alabama Bar is proud to honor the hard work and dedication of female attorneys past and present through the presentation of the Janie L. Shores Scholarship to Krystina Jackson.” The Justice Janie L. Shores scholarship is named in honor of the first female Alabama Supreme Court Justice, who was elected in 1974.

Krystina is a law student at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her many extracurricular activities include placing runner-up in Case Classic Trail Advocacy Competition, and membership in Student Bar Association and the Criminal Law Society. She was recognized by the National Society for Collegiate Scholars, and is a member of Lambda Pi Eta Honors Association. Krystina has worked as a legal assistant and served a legal internship for the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office. Krystina has varied volunteer experience with children with special needs. As Krystina explains, those experiences led her to aspire to “be a voice for those who need someone to speak for them.” To achieve that objective, Krystina‘s career goal is to work in criminal law as a prosecutor. Her focus is not so much punishing, as “making sure the victim’s voice is heard–standing up for them.” In addition, she wants to return to her rural hometown area of Stevenson, Alabama.

Krystina says growing up in a small rural town presented some challenges when she decided to attend college and law school; most of her fellow high school students were not interested in continuing their education. She says she appreciates the Women’s Section and the Janie L. Shores scholarship as much for the sense of professional support as the financial support.

Krystina was recognized at the Maude McLure Kelly Award Luncheon held Friday, July 14, 2017 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. Christina Crow states, “Janie Shores paved the way for many young lawyers, male and female, and we are proud to follow her example of hard work and dedication to the profession by raising the funds for this scholarship with our annual silent auction. We also thank our donors who make the silent auction possible.”