Northeastern Law 2025–2026 Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants Judicial Scholarship

07.16.26 — Congratulations to all of the Northeastern Law 2025–2026 Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants Judicial Scholarship recipients. Created as a collaboration among Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Equity and Race, the Gants Fund for Racial Equity and Access to Justice and the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, with $150,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants Judicial Scholarship Program is a state-funded program that provides $150,000 per year to law students across the commonwealth for judicial co-ops and internships. Scholarships of $8,000 are awarded on a competitive basis to eligible Massachusetts law students. Recipients are selected based on undergraduate and law school academic performance, personal achievement, a personal statement, demonstrated leadership ability and public service experience.

“Each year, I’m grateful to the Massachusetts Legislature and the Chief Justice Ralph Gants Racial Equity and Access to Justice Fund for expanding access to justice. Their generosity lets law students who couldn’t otherwise afford an unpaid judicial internship serve alongside our state’s judges and justices—working alongside the judiciary, sharpening their research and writing, and gaining insight into judicial decision-making,” said Professor Emerita Deborah Ramirez, who spearheaded the launch of the scholarship in honor of her late husband, Chief Justice Gants. “We hope this experience prepares them to become excellent lawyers and perhaps inspires some to one day serve as judges themselves, helping build a judiciary that’s ever more skilled, compassionate and reflective of the communities it serves.”

Emma Parker ’26, who received the scholarship in fall 2025, interned in the chambers of Associate Justice Frank M. Gaziano of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. “Interning at the SJC was formative, strengthening my research and writing skills and exposing me to areas of law I had not previously encountered," said Parker, who graduated in April and is joining the inaugural class of Workers’ Rights Fellows at Lichten and Liss-Riordan.

Reeth Magoo ’26, the spring 2026 recipient, spent 15 weeks in Massachussetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd’s chambers conducting legal research and writing, observing oral arguments and learning about the commonwealth’s Restorative Justice Pilot Program. “It was a privilege to see how equity actually gets factored into the precedent I hope to practice under one day,” said Magoo, who is joining the Committee for Public Counsel Services as a public defender in summer 2026.

Emily Swann ’28, the summer 2026 recipient, is interning in the chambers of the Hon. Lisa Ann Grant, associate justice of the Boston Municipal Court in the Roxbury Division. “I am honored to be able to continue Chief Justice Gants’ legacy of justice through working with the community of Roxbury,” said Swann.

For more information about the Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants Judicial Scholarship, please visit the program website.

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