Diversity Scholar Recipients
Diversity Scholar Recipients
Encouraging diversity and inclusion within the field of ADR
In addition to these individualized grants, the AAA-ICDR Foundation has established diversity scholarships at Howard University and North Carolina Central University, two historically Black colleges and universities that offer certificates in dispute resolution programs in their law schools.
Both scholarships involve a three-year commitment of $150,000, $50,000 annually, to award scholarships to second- or third-year law school students in certificate in dispute resolution programs. Scholarship recipients will be selected yearly, in September, by each law school.
Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship Recipients
2023 Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship Recipients
Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship Recipients
Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship Recipients
2023 Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship Recipients
Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship Recipients
2023 Scholarship Recipients
2022 Scholarship Recipients
2021 Scholarship Recipients
2020 Scholarship Recipients
Scholar Recipient
Scholar
Antoni Otalega
Basel Switzerland
School
Basel Winter Arbitration School at the University of Basel
Master of Laws student form Poland. During his 5 years cycle at university he has succeeded in numerous international mediation and negotiation competitions, including FDI Mediation Moot and INADR Law School Mediation Tournament in Chicago. He is now supplementing his ADR knowledge with arbitration by interning for a boutique law firm in Poland. He believes the pursuit of ADR literacy will let him ultimately become a comprehensive dispute resolver.
Grant Amount
$789.72
Scholar
Pushkar Keshavmurthy
Washington, D.C.
School
Georgetown University
I am an Indian-qualified Attorney and an LLM Student at Georgetown University, where I am specializing in International Arbitration.
Being born in a Vokkaliga community (4th category of caste system in India and a historically underrepresented in both the ADR and legal profession) and hailing from Western Ghats Forests of Southern Karnataka in India, I have been fortunate to be studying in a prestigious LLM program at Georgetown University with a merit scholarship from the law school.
Having worked both as a counsel in courts and in arbitrations, and as a Case Manager/Tribunal Secretary at the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, I have appreciated the importance of ADR as a faster and cost-effective dispute resolution process. With my qualifications of an accredited mediator and ADR skills, I aim to strengthen my counsel practice by also being an arbitrator and mediator listed by the AAA roaster. I also wish to contribute to the AAA-ICDR Asia Case Management team based in Singapore in the near future.
Grant Amount
$2,000
PROGRAM
Scholar
Caterina Cesario
New Orleans, LA
ABOUT
Caterina was born in Italy where she started her journey to become an ADR practitioner. She first enrolled in a double-degree in Italian and French law offered by the University of Florence in collaboration with the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, and this brought her to travel from her native town, Trieste, not far from Venice and at the border with Slovenia, to Florence and then to Paris. Eager to learn more and nurture her passion, she decided to pursue an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution and Advocacy at Cardozo School of Law in New York. Being able to travel, live and attend classes in foreign countries has shaped her international profile, and strengthened her ability to learn from diversity. Strongly convinced of the potential ADR tools, such as negotiation, mediation, but also arbitration, have to make the world a better place she is focusing in building her professional career in ADR.
Grant Amount
$1,500
PROGRAM
ABA DR National Section Conference in Las Vegas
Scholar
Shakeba Dubose
Columbus, OH
ABOUT
Shakeba brings 18 years of health law, administrative law, and civil litigation/appeal experience to her clients. Prior to establishing The DuBose Law Firm, LLC in 2013, Shakeba started her legal career as an Ohio assistant attorney general in the health and human services section and later served as associate general counsel for a managed care plan. Throughout
her career, Shakeba has represented clients before various licensure boards and state agencies governing healthcare professionals and entities. Shakeba has also provided general counsel services to small healthcare businesses and advised practitioners regarding employee
relations issues and employment contracts reviews.
In 2014, Shakeba began her tenure as an independent hearing adjudicator and has presided over 200+ administrative hearings. In 2016, Shakeba completed the American Health Law Association’s Dispute Resolution Service’s Arbitration Training and has been party-selected for five (5) arbitration matters.
After years of representing clients on both sides of the table, Shakeba is transitioning from client representation to full-time work as an independent contractor adjudicator and dispute resolution professional. In 2022, Shakeba launched TDLF Dispute Resolution Services, a registered tradename through which The DuBose Law Firm will offer alternative dispute resolutions and administrative law adjudication services.
Grant Amount
$2,000
PROGRAM
Higginbotham Fellow
Scholar
Lisa Simpson Hoover
Atlanta, GA
School
ABA DR National Section Conference in Las Vegas
Lisa Simpson Hoover is a personal injury attorney specializing in auto accident negligence and premise liability. Licensed in five states including Florida, District of Columbia, Illinois and
Maryland, Hoover has been practicing law for almost three decades and maintains a primary office in Atlanta and satellite office in Chicago. She leverages an insurance defense background in her plaintiff personal injury practice. She is certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Civil Circuit Neutral. She is on the AAA Illinois Accident Claims Panel of Neutrals, Louisiana State Bar Association Civil Mediator Registry and a 2023 ABA ADR Section Fellow serving on the Women in Dispute Resolution Committee. She is a member of the Torts & Insurance Practice Section and Solo Small Firm Practice Sections of the ABA. She is an active member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) and Georgia Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL) having served in their continuing legal education committees. Hoover is married and has three daughters.
Grant Amount
$1,000
Scholar
Chika Ezeonyebuchi
Columbus, OH
School
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
My name is Chika Ezeonyebuchi. I am currently attending law school at the Ohio State University where I am working towards a certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution. I have been involved with the Divided Community Project using alternative dispute resolution techniques in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Largely, I enjoy discovering the different shapes dispute resolution can take like ideas to integrate article intelligence in online mediations. In the future, I hope to use the ADR skills and techniques I have learned and apply them to both the legal field and DEI such as developing more affordable housing through economic development.
Grant Amount
$2,000
2023 Scholarship Recipients
2022 Scholarship Recipients
2021 Scholarship Recipients
2020 Scholarship Recipients
Scholar Recipient
Scholar
Antoni Otalega
Basel Switzerland
School
Basel Winter Arbitration School at the University of Basel
Master of Laws student form Poland. During his 5 years cycle at university he has succeeded in numerous international mediation and negotiation competitions, including FDI Mediation Moot and INADR Law School Mediation Tournament in Chicago. He is now supplementing his ADR knowledge with arbitration by interning for a boutique law firm in Poland. He believes the pursuit of ADR literacy will let him ultimately become a comprehensive dispute resolver.
Grant Amount
$789.72
Scholar
Pushkar Keshavmurthy
Washington, D.C.
School
Georgetown University
I am an Indian-qualified Attorney and an LLM Student at Georgetown University, where I am specializing in International Arbitration.
Being born in a Vokkaliga community (4th category of caste system in India and a historically underrepresented in both the ADR and legal profession) and hailing from Western Ghats Forests of Southern Karnataka in India, I have been fortunate to be studying in a prestigious LLM program at Georgetown University with a merit scholarship from the law school.
Having worked both as a counsel in courts and in arbitrations, and as a Case Manager/Tribunal Secretary at the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, I have appreciated the importance of ADR as a faster and cost-effective dispute resolution process. With my qualifications of an accredited mediator and ADR skills, I aim to strengthen my counsel practice by also being an arbitrator and mediator listed by the AAA roaster. I also wish to contribute to the AAA-ICDR Asia Case Management team based in Singapore in the near future.
Grant Amount
$2,000
PROGRAM
Scholar
Caterina Cesario
New Orleans, LA
ABOUT
Caterina was born in Italy where she started her journey to become an ADR practitioner. She first enrolled in a double-degree in Italian and French law offered by the University of Florence in collaboration with the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, and this brought her to travel from her native town, Trieste, not far from Venice and at the border with Slovenia, to Florence and then to Paris. Eager to learn more and nurture her passion, she decided to pursue an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution and Advocacy at Cardozo School of Law in New York. Being able to travel, live and attend classes in foreign countries has shaped her international profile, and strengthened her ability to learn from diversity. Strongly convinced of the potential ADR tools, such as negotiation, mediation, but also arbitration, have to make the world a better place she is focusing in building her professional career in ADR.
Grant Amount
$1,500
PROGRAM
ABA DR National Section Conference in Las Vegas
Scholar
Shakeba Dubose
Columbus, OH
ABOUT
Shakeba brings 18 years of health law, administrative law, and civil litigation/appeal experience to her clients. Prior to establishing The DuBose Law Firm, LLC in 2013, Shakeba started her legal career as an Ohio assistant attorney general in the health and human services section and later served as associate general counsel for a managed care plan. Throughout
her career, Shakeba has represented clients before various licensure boards and state agencies governing healthcare professionals and entities. Shakeba has also provided general counsel services to small healthcare businesses and advised practitioners regarding employee
relations issues and employment contracts reviews.
In 2014, Shakeba began her tenure as an independent hearing adjudicator and has presided over 200+ administrative hearings. In 2016, Shakeba completed the American Health Law Association’s Dispute Resolution Service’s Arbitration Training and has been party-selected for five (5) arbitration matters.
After years of representing clients on both sides of the table, Shakeba is transitioning from client representation to full-time work as an independent contractor adjudicator and dispute resolution professional. In 2022, Shakeba launched TDLF Dispute Resolution Services, a registered tradename through which The DuBose Law Firm will offer alternative dispute resolutions and administrative law adjudication services.
Grant Amount
$2,000
PROGRAM
Higginbotham Fellow
Scholar
Lisa Simpson Hoover
Atlanta, GA
School
ABA DR National Section Conference in Las Vegas
Lisa Simpson Hoover is a personal injury attorney specializing in auto accident negligence and premise liability. Licensed in five states including Florida, District of Columbia, Illinois and
Maryland, Hoover has been practicing law for almost three decades and maintains a primary office in Atlanta and satellite office in Chicago. She leverages an insurance defense background in her plaintiff personal injury practice. She is certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Civil Circuit Neutral. She is on the AAA Illinois Accident Claims Panel of Neutrals, Louisiana State Bar Association Civil Mediator Registry and a 2023 ABA ADR Section Fellow serving on the Women in Dispute Resolution Committee. She is a member of the Torts & Insurance Practice Section and Solo Small Firm Practice Sections of the ABA. She is an active member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) and Georgia Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL) having served in their continuing legal education committees. Hoover is married and has three daughters.
Grant Amount
$1,000
Scholar
Chika Ezeonyebuchi
Columbus, OH
School
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
My name is Chika Ezeonyebuchi. I am currently attending law school at the Ohio State University where I am working towards a certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution. I have been involved with the Divided Community Project using alternative dispute resolution techniques in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Largely, I enjoy discovering the different shapes dispute resolution can take like ideas to integrate article intelligence in online mediations. In the future, I hope to use the ADR skills and techniques I have learned and apply them to both the legal field and DEI such as developing more affordable housing through economic development.
Grant Amount
$2,000