About the scholarship:
This scholarship is intended to benefit a full-time student at LSU Law, with preferential consideration for students of Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge and Iberville Parishes. Financial need may be a consideration. Recipients are selected by the Scholarship Committee of the Law Center. Students who receive the scholarship may retain it for additional years if funds are available and the recipient continues to meet eligibility requirements.
About the Pendley-Baudin family:
Pat Pendley, senior partner at Pendley, Baudin and Coffin, has practiced law continuously since 1967, with a general practice of law in all areas, except patent and tax law.
Patrick “Pat” Pendley is a 1967 graduate of LSU Law and is the founding partner of the Pendley Baudin & Coffin Law Firm in Plaquemine, Louisiana. Helen Pendley is the wife of Pat and mother of Pam Baudin. Pamela “Pam” Baudin is the daughter of Pat Pendley and is a 1994 graduate of LSU Law.
When asked why the Pendley and Baudin families wanted to create this scholarship, Pat spoke of his own experience in law school.
“There were no scholarships five decades ago,” he said. “I had to borrow money for school. It took me five years to pay it off and it was a hardship just starting out. It certainly would have helped if there had been financial aid available”.
When his law class created the Class of 1967 Scholarship at their 40th reunion, Pat was an early and generous contributor. Ten years later, he wanted to do something more personal. “This is really important to me,” he said.
Pam Baudin, daughter of Pat Pendley and a 1994 LSU Law graduate, has been an associate with Pendley, Baudin & Coffin since 1995, practicing in the areas of wills, successions and estates.
Pat spoke of the family life he has been blessed to have which he calls “quite the experience” and he said he never dreamed that someone like him coming from a country parish would have had such a wonderful experience in his life and career. Overall, he said, “LSU has been good to me.”
Public Justice honored Pat with its 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year award at that organization’s July 29, 2019, Annual Gala & Awards Dinner at the USS Midway in San Diego, California. The national nonprofit legal advocacy organization honored Pat for his work on a legal team representing a class action that began almost twenty years ago, eventually earning a settlement for consumers and shedding light on corruption in politics. Read the full story on the award and the case from Louisiana Advocates.
Helen spoke about the fortunate choices she has made over her life and her strong belief that if people are able to give financially and support others, they should. Theirs was the family that never turned down anyone who came to their house and she is proud of that openness they share as a family. The Pendley and Baudin families are built around the philosophy that people should “do the right thing” when faced with an opportunity to help others. She lives by the rule that everyone should be able to look themselves in the mirror and say that they “do the best they can” each and every day.
Public Justice honored Pat Pendley with its 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year award at that organization’s July 29, 2019, Annual Gala & Awards Dinner at the USS Midway in San Diego, California.
When asked what inspired her to make this gift, Pam shared her gratitude that she was able to finish her undergraduate and law school education without any debt. She recognizes that many others around her did not have the same support and she feels it is important to help other students who are not as fortunate. Throughout her career, working alongside her father, she made a commitment that she would help other students if she was ever in a position to do so. She learned by her father’s example of always doing the right thing and spoke about the vast number of cases he’s taken as an attorney to help others in need because it was the right thing to do. She calls her father the example of how attorneys should act and treat each other. She is proud of her family scholarship and the legacy they are leaving behind.
