Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has created a scholarship at Emory College of Arts and Sciences to honor its long-time partner, Emory alumna Susan Cahoon. The Susan A. Cahoon Scholarship endowment will provide support for students attending Emory College.
"We are honored to recognize Susan with this significant scholarship," said Henry Walker, Kilpatrick Townsend Chair. "Kilpatrick Townsend and Emory share a common history with hundreds of the firm's attorneys having attended Emory for college or law school. To provide a lasting legacy that will help shape the success of future generations of Emory students is the most fitting way to pay tribute to Susan and her passionate commitment to education."
The first recipient of the Cahoon Scholarship is Justin Nie, a senior pre-law international studies major from Irvine, California. He has been active in the Student Government Association, ChEmory, Model UN and Volunteer Emory.
Kilpatrick Townsend's gift to establish the Cahoon Scholarship will be matched as part of the Emory College Scholarship Endowment Initiative. Increasing scholarship support is a university priority to ensure that exceptional students can study at Emory.
Cahoon, a 1968 graduate of Emory College, is a member of the Emory University Board of Trustees and serves as general counsel for Kilpatrick Townsend. She joined the firm in 1971, became its first woman partner in 1977 and has spent her career as a litigator. Cahoon's diverse experience includes patent infringement litigation, complex commercial disputes and securities litigation, and she is trained as a mediator and arbitrator.
She enrolled in Emory College at age 15 and became a nationally recognized debater, helping Emory's Barkley Forum debate team win its first national championship in 1967. Cahoon graduated with highest honors in economics, then earned a law degree with honors from Harvard.
In 2008, Cahoon created an endowed chair in history at Emory College to honor her family and address what she sees as a disturbing trend in education. The Cahoon Family Chair in American History is now held by Patrick Allitt, who specializes in religious, intellectual and environmental history.
"I realized that there were fewer people majoring in subjects like history, and I was particularly concerned that so many people of the younger generation seemed blissfully ignorant about much of American history in particular," Cahoon said in an interview with Emory's alumni magazine in 2013.
"As I thought about what I could do with some of the money that I had been fortunate enough to make through my profession, my logical thoughts turned to Emory because it was so pivotal for me in the start of my career, and I have so many fond memories of my days here as an undergraduate," she said.
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for more than 15 years, Cahoon was named 2013 "Atlanta Lawyer of the Year" in the area of Patent Litigation by The Best Lawyers in America. She is listed in the 2014 and the five years immediately preceding editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for General Commercial Litigation. Cahoon was named a Top 100 Georgia "Super Lawyer" and a Top 50 Women Georgia "Super Lawyer" in 2014 and the five years immediately preceding.
View more information about Susan Cahoon.