Paying it Forward
Category: Advancement
Laura Margulies, J.D. '88
Sheldon Margulies, J.D. '88
Thirty years ago a $3,000 scholarship helped make it possible for Laura Margulies, J.D. '88, to attend law school. At the time she was a single mother of three and the award covered her entire tuition bill.
Now Laura and her husband, physician Sheldon Margulies, J.D. '88, are giving the same helping hand to others by creating the Laura and Sheldon Margulies Scholarship Fund. The award was established in 2015 to provide financial assistance to a single parent attending the University of Baltimore School of Law. This year's recipient is Fantasia Webb, a first-generation college student now pursuing her law degree.
"I know how meaningful a scholarship was to me and I could picture it being meaningful to other students into the future," says Laura. "A law education offers so many opportunities and there are so many possible ways to use your skills and to make a great career for yourself."
The couple is familiar with how versatile a law degree can be. When they met at UB, Laura was working as a high school and adult education teacher, but she had always been interested in law and knew it could be a more lucrative career to help her raise her family. Sheldon, a neurologist at the University of Maryland, decided to pursue his J.D. after helping a medical colleague analyze a legal case. He squeezed his law school classes into an already full schedule of seeing patients and teaching neurology and clinical skills to medical school students. Though Sheldon has never practiced as an attorney, he’s applied his legal training as an expert medical witness and written several textbooks, including Learning the Law.
While the Margulieses weren't in the same course of study, Sheldon happened to attend a guest lecture in one of Laura's classes and the two were introduced by the professor, a mutual friend. They were married a few months later and had two more children together.
"I know how meaningful a scholarship was to me and I could picture it being meaningful to other students into the future," says Laura. "A law education offers so many opportunities and there are so many possible ways to use your skills and to make a great career for yourself."
After graduation, Laura worked first as a clerk in the appellate court and then as an attorney at large firms in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In 1993, she started her own firm specializing in bankruptcy law and also became a professor, author and lecturer. She sold her practice in 2017 and has been a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for the last five years. Sheldon continued his medical practice; now retired from neurology, he currently works on curriculum development for primary and secondary schools.
According to Sheldon, Laura's experience motivated her to find a way to provide opportunities for current students. "Laura has always been grateful for what happened to her and this is a manifestation of that,” he explains. "She knows that there are others who are in the same situation."
"When I was in law school I never thought I would have the wherewithal to create a scholarship," says Laura. But thanks to her successful career and with Sheldon’s support, she’s now able to support and encourage others. "The financial assistance I received was so meaningful to me," she says. "I thought it was appropriate that I pay that forward."
