This story originally appeared in Res Ipsa, the UMKC School of Law alumni magazine. To learn more, read the full issue or visit the School of Law website.

“I still get choked up when I talk about it.”

For Teghan Groff (J.D. ’23), a full-tuition scholarship to the UMKC School of Law means having the freedom to pursue her true passion.

“If you want to go into criminal defense and public interest, like I do, you’re not looking at paying back debt very quickly,” says Groff. “Help like this means so much, especially when you’re paying for school on your own.”

Groff is the first recipient of a new scholarship offered by the UMKC Law School in partnership with the Association for Women Lawyers Foundation (AWLF). The AWLF will contribute $10,000 annually for three years, matched dollar-for-dollar by the Law School, resulting in a full-tuition scholarship for a first-year, female law student pursuing a juris doctorate. Recipients must demonstrate leadership skills and excel academically.

Two Law School alumnae, Mira Mdivani (J.D. ’99) and Athena Dickson (J.D. ’03), both former presidents of the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City (AWLKC), helped make the scholarship a reality, along with Dean Barbara Glesner Fines and AWLF leadership.

“We asked ourselves, what can we do to truly change someone’s life?” says Mdivani, a business immigration attorney with the Mdivani Corporate Immigration Law Firm in Overland Park, Kansas, and the recipient of the 2020 UMKC School of Law Alumni Achievement Award. The answer was simple: to enable a remarkable woman to attend law school without the burden of student debt, particularly someone who may not have the chance to become a lawyer otherwise.

“It’s us saying, ‘We believe in you, and here’s a full scholarship to show that,’” says Dickson, a personal injury and employment discrimination attorney for Siro Smith Dickson PC in Kansas City, Missouri. Dickson and Mdivani got involved with the AWLKC after graduating from UMKC Law School. The organization connected them to female colleagues with valuable advice about navigating the traditionally male-dominated field of law. Now, both women want to pay it forward by mentoring and offering support to other young women.

“I can tell a difference compared to when I first started out,” says Dickson of her experience as a female lawyer. “Women still have a harder time, but it feels like I’m treated better, and I think some of that is directly related to the legal profession working toward gender equality.”

Still, there is more work to be done to achieve equality in law and the U.S. workforce as a whole.

“Women make less money than men, do more busy work for businesses and families, and often don’t have the same opportunities as men,” says Mdivani. She says that’s one reason why it’s so important to support education for aspiring women lawyers like Groff, because they can influence policies and laws to combat inequality and “make life better for everyone.”

Groff, who began studying at the UMKC School of Law last summer after graduating from Fort Hays State University, wants to focus her efforts on tackling inequity in the criminal justice system.

“I thought I wanted to be a prosecutor, but then I realized how much of a mess the system is and how intimidating it can be for clients,” says Groff. “I want to be a helping hand through that, so I switched to criminal defense.”

Once she started talking to professors and fellow students, Groff knew the UMKC Law School was the ideal place to make that happen.

“I just said, ‘OK, this is it,’ and I haven’t been disappointed.”