Third-year UW law student Kenechukwu (Kene) Onyemaechi Okocha has been awarded the VelanDale Phillips Scholarship for 2006 by the Wisconsin Association of African-American Lawyers (WAAL), in recognition of excellence in academics, leadership, and volunteer activities.
Okocha has been an active participant in a broad range of Law School activities, and in April 2006, his fellow students elected him President of the Student Bar Association for 2006-07.
The VelanDale Phillips Scholarship is awarded annually to two students – one from the University of Wisconsin Law School and one from Marquette University Law School -- whose accomplishments and activities reflect the life and achievements of attorney W. Dale Phillips, founder of the law office that grew into Phillips, Phillips, Gambrell, Jones, and Stamper, the largest Wisconsin-based African-American law firm of its day. He was an active volunteer in his community through organizations such as the NAACP and the Black Lawyers Association (predecessor to WAAL).
The Marquette University Law School recipient of the Phillips Scholarship is Ravae Sinclair.
The scholarships were presented formally to Okocha and Sinclair in Milwaukee on May 18, 2006, at the 17th annual VelanDale Scholarship Banquet. Presenting the awards was Vel R. Phillips on behalf of herself and her late husband, W. Dale Phillips, both of whom graduated from the UW Law School.
Vel Phillips bears the distinction of being the first African-American woman to graduate from the UW Law School, as well as the first woman and first African-American to be elected an alderman in Milwaukee, the first African-American judge in Wisconsin, and the first African-American elected Wisconsin secretary of state.
Submitted by on July 13, 2006
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