For nearly 30 years, the Adam Freeman Scott Memorial Grant has enabled USC law students like Ben Conway (JD 2006) to devote their summer to public service without sacrificing
their financial needs.
“I don’t come from money,” Conway says. “My ideals were very important to me. But, at the end of the day, I needed a summer job that would pay the bills and nonprofits don’t do that. Having this external source of funding allowed me to do this internship that helped me create a network and launch my career.”
The grant continues the promise of Adam Freeman Scott (JD 1993), who tragically died five months after earning his law degree.
USC Gould Professor Scott Altman remembers Scott, who took his property law class, as an extraordinary student and person.
“In my 35 years of teaching, Adam stands out as one of the smartest and most passionate students I’ve ever had in class,” Altman says. “He was focused on making the world a more just and humane place. He spoke regularly and with great conviction, always on behalf of those neglected by the legal system.”
Dana Treister (JD 1994), Adam’s friend from law school, and his wife Toi came up with the idea to create the grant in Adam’s memory. Treister brought the idea to then-USC Gould Dean Scott Bice and Adam’s father, Jack Scott, who at the time was president of Pasadena City College.
“The support from the law school community and Adam’s friends and colleagues enabled us to raise enough funds to permanently endow the grant,” says Treister. “Jack Scott often says to me that 100 years from now, someone is going to get this grant in Adam’s name. That means a lot to his family and to me.”
Treister still chairs the grant selection committee, along with Jack Scott, his son Gregory, granddaughter Nicole, Altman and past winners. The grant annually provides two USC Gould law students with $9,000 to pursue the sort of public service work that Adam would admire.
“He would have done amazing things as a lawyer but he didn’t get the chance,” Treister says. “A driving force behind this grant was thinking about what Adam would have done had he lived longer. Every year we’re taken aback by the quality of applicants we get. After the interviews, we ask each other who reminds us most of Adam. That’s not the only factor, but it’s kind of how we pick.”
Altman remembers Adam as uncommonly kind, the type of person who was well-loved by people who agreed and disagreed with him on an issue, because he was respectful to both.
“I so admired Adam and the kind of lawyer he wanted to be,” Altman says. “That’s why I’m happy to have spent the past 25 years with Adam’s family honoring him. Each year, we meet smart, young people who want to lead the kind of life Adam wanted to lead, hear about their projects and passions, and honor him by picking from the best of them.”
Conway used the grant to intern at the ACLU of Southern California, working on their Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. From the ACLU, Conway got his first full-time job out of law school on the recommendation of Professor Clare Pastore, who worked with him there. Conway is now deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice’s civil rights enforcement section.
“We’ve given out about 50 grants and a lot of the recipients say it was a real springboard for them in terms of their careers in public service,” Treister says. “We’re very proud of that.”
Nadia Danilovich (JD 2015) also ended up getting a full-time job from her internship. The grant funded an internship at the National Immigration Justice Center in Chicago, where she represented low-income asylum seekers for the LGBT Initiative Rights Project.
“It was obviously very sad but also inspiring to hear how the grant came about,” Danilovich says. “Most internships in social justice are unpaid, so the grant really helped me that summer. After the internship, I continued that trajectory working with asylum seekers.”
Danilovich now works for the American Bar Association’s Children’s Immigration Law Academy, where she leads national webinar trainings and workshops on issues affecting unaccompanied immigrant children.
After Adam’s death, his father, a longtime educator, was inspired to go into public service, spending 12 years in the California legislature.
“The grant has meant a great deal to us,” Jack Scott says. “We’re very touched by the powerful work that these students do each summer. There’s nothing that can bring back my son, but his memory lives on through these passionate young people who are changing lives through their projects.”
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