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An ���ϲ����� School of Law student has been named a , a program created by the North Carolina Bar Foundation “to address inequities in access to legal services and participation in the legal profession experienced by historically excluded or disadvantaged individuals and communities in North Carolina.”

April Franklin L’25 will take part this summer in a 10-week experience at the Greensboro-based corporate headquarters of grocery chain while participating in professional development programming coordinated by the NCBF and the North Carolina Bar Association.

The fellowship for first-year law students “who have demonstrated a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion through their activities, background and life experiences” includes $10,000 and an invitation to be a guest of the North Carolina Bar Association in June at its annual meeting.

Franklin will work this summer at The Fresh Market under the guidance of attorney Gerald L. Walden, Jr., GVP – General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of The Fresh Market and immediate past president of the Greensboro Bar Association.

Fellows must be interested in practicing law in North Carolina, be enrolled full-time at an ABA-accredited North Carolina law school and demonstrate a commitment to the NCBF’s mission and values. Darius Alexander, a law student at UNC Chapel Hill, is the other recipient of the annual award first bestowed in 2023.

Franklin said ​the fellowship is particularly impactful because of her non-traditional route to law school.

“Making a career change has been a challenging yet rewarding adventure and this opportunity will help make that transition smoother by giving me the chance to showcase transferable skills,” she said. “The legal profession has a long way to go in creating an equitable, inclusive, and diverse landscape that is representative of the public and I am honored to be a part of a new generation of future attorneys and legal professionals equipped to improve these numbers.”

“The legal profession has a long way to go in creating an equitable, inclusive, and diverse landscape that is representative of the public and I am honored to be a part of a new generation of future attorneys and legal professionals equipped to improve these numbers.”

Franklin earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University before attending UNC Greensboro for both her MBA and a Master of Science in Gerontology. She worked in the healthcare industry for several years before starting her business, Fresh Wave Care LLC, and self-publishing “The Millennial’s Guide to Caregiving – It’s All About You!”

She joined the ���ϲ����� Law community as a Leadership Fellow and has been active in a Peer Mentor Program and with the Black Law Students Association. Franklin also volunteered in April in the Wills for Heroes clinic co-hosted by the Pro Bono Board and the NCBF.