Aspiring lawyers can now apply for a scholarship at New York's Cornell Law School, instituted in honour of Her Royal Highness Princess Bajra Kitiyabha, an alumnus of the school.

The scholarship is the result of a joint effort by Cornell and The Thai Bar and will be offered to one Thai student each year for an initial period of five years.

The institution of the scholarship was announced yesterday by Dr Thamrongrat Keokarn, a close aide of the princess, and Kittipong Kittayarak, deputy permanent secretary for Justice and a member of Cornell University Council, at the Ministry of Justice.

Both men serve as committee members of the Bajrakitiyabha Fund for Legal Education.

They said the scholarship for law studies up to graduate level was to honour the academic achievements of the princess, who will be a guest lecturer in law studies at Thammasat University next year.

The university will cover the tuition fees of approximately US$40,000 (Bt1.44 million), and the Bajrakitiyabha Fund for Legal Education will provide the living expenses.

"It is an honour that the university gave us the authority to select the student," said Kittipong.

The collaboration between Cornell Law School and The Thai Bar also aims to promote research and development studies by the university and Thai legal institutions, to exchange academics and researchers, and to promote the study of law and legal-career development.

Since its founding in 1887, the Cornell Law School in New York has exemplified its stated ideal of producing well-trained, large-minded, morally-based lawyers and is considered one of the top law schools in the world. More than 30 Thai students have graduated from it.

The princess spent four years at Cornell and graduated last year with both master's and doctoral degrees in Law Studies.

"She was a hard-working student," said Thamrongrat.

"She was always well prepared for class and even took more subjects than required since she had many interests and wanted to learn as much as she could. Also, even though she is a princess, she was modest and showed respect to professors and seniors. We hope that the students granted the scholarship will be inspired by the princess.

"Apart from academic excellence, we are looking for a good lawyer's attitude. As far as I recall, the princess considers the ideal lawyer to be one to whom ensuring justice is more important than having very strong or good laws. A good lawyer must be honest, compassionate and apply justice as a basic," he said.

Applications for the scholarship are being accepted from now until January 31. The forms and qualification requirements are available at www.thethaibar.thaigov.net.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation