Each year since 1987, at least one student at Lewis & Clark Law School has benefitted from a scholarship established by the firm in the name of founding partners Moe M. Tonkon and Frederick H. Torp. This year, the school’s Dean and Associate Dean selected five students for the honor. James Aaron, Alex Coberly, Robert Doeckel, Maggie Hall and Erin Williams each received a $1,000 scholarship that can be applied toward tuition, books, living expenses or other costs associated with law school attendance.
“The scholarship is incredibly valuable to me, especially this semester,” said Doeckel in a letter thanking the firm. Offered an opportunity to extern with the U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta at the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Doeckle said he “jumped at the chance, but unfortunately, that meant I had to forgo a paid position that I was counting on to provide for my books, study guides and school supplies. I’ll be able to use the scholarship to secure most, if not all, of my materials for third year.”
That is just the kind of support the firm intended when it established the annual scholarship, which encourages the development of young attorneys who demonstrate exceptional aptitude for the law, a commitment to the highest professional standards and a desire to improve quality of life in their communities.
“These are qualities that Moe Tonkon and Fred Torp brought to their practice of law and that we continue to hold at the forefront of our work,” said Michael Morgan, managing partner. The scholarship fund has awarded more than $125,000 to nearly 40 Lewis & Clark students over the past 26 years.
Founder Moe Tonkon, who died in 1984 at the age of 78, was an alumnus of Northwestern School of Law (Lewis & Clark Law School), earning his J.D. in 1928. Over his long legal career he received numerous awards for his civic and professional activities, including Lewis & Clark Law School’s Distinguished Graduate Award and the Aubrey R. Watzek Award from Lewis & Clark College. The firm established the scholarship in his name in 1987. In 2003, Tonkon Torp enhanced the scholarship to also honor co-founder Frederick Torp, who died that year at the age of 89. A leading tax and corporate attorney, Torp earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and his L.L.B. from Columbia University Law School.
