Prince Senayah Awarded Moyer Fellowship for Project on Bail Reform
by Diana Case | May 18, 2018
Professor Marilyn Preston with Prince Senayah
Prince Senayah, rising second-year law student at The University of Toledo, was recently awarded the prestigious Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Fellowship for his project on bail reform. The annual fellowship is awarded to two exceptional first- or second-year students from Ohio law schools.
Senayah will use the grant to fund a research project with the Law and Leadership Institute (LLI) under the supervision of Professor Marilyn Preston, professor of legal research and writing at Toledo Law. LLI is a non-profit organization in Ohio that works with high school students from underserved communities to prepare them for legal careers. The institute provides free academic instruction and leadership training to approximately 225 high school students across the state.
The funded project will include an intensive study of the Ohio bail system and ongoing reform efforts. Research will be designed into a new LLI course taught by Senayah that focuses on the state’s pretrial process and legal reform. Top writing assignments will be published on the institute’s website and mailed to state senate members co-sponsoring a new pretrial reform bill. Students will gain insight into the bail system while engaging with legal professionals who are actively part of the reform process.
Senayah understands the critical need for reform, as his father worked for many years as a prison guard. “This is one of the reasons why I chose to research Ohio's bail system and the efforts being made to make it a better one,” said Senayah. “I am also excited to work under Professor Marilyn Preston, who has been my professor of legal research and writing this year. I am confident that with her guidance, I can produce a body of work that benefits the community and honors the legacy of Justice Thomas J. Moyer.”
Senayah is currently a full-time JD student at Toledo Law. He earned his bachelor of science degree in land economy from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.
"I am thrilled that Prince received this prestigious award,” said Marilyn Preston, legal writing professor. “This is an amazing opportunity for him, and as his research supervisor for the fellowship, I know that Prince will bring a fresh and unique perspective given his international background and experiences. It is a well-deserved honor and Prince’s proposal will advance the principles that the Moyer fellowship is dedicated to promote—that of educating our young people about social justice and law."
This fellowship is funded by the Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Legacy Fund at the Ohio State Bar Foundation (OSBF), honoring his commitment to the legal profession and his special interest in Ohio’s law students. Recipients must devote a minimum of 320 hours to summer research or employment. The $5,000 award includes $1,000 in matching funds from Toledo Law and supports a summer opportunity advancing one of Chief Justice Moyer’s primary initiatives: providing citizens with improved access to the courts, alternative dispute resolution, and advanced technology; advancing the tenets for which he stood: civility, ethics, judicial independence and the rule of law; working with national and international organizations to promote the principles of judicial independence and the rule of law within the United States and throughout the world; and promoting or sustaining civic education.