Koffel | Brininger | Nesbitt’s Moral Responsibility and the Application of the Law Scholarship celebrates students who recognize what it means to bring a sense of moral responsibility to the legal industry.
This year, our Columbus criminal defense lawyers proudly recognize Penn State Dickinson Law student Seth Pearson as the firm’s scholarship recipient.
Pearson is set to graduate from law school in May 2028 after securing a degree in finance from Shippensburg University. His previous experience in economic development helped him establish the groundwork for his own ethical values, as he recognized the importance of putting the needs of the many above the needs of the few.
Pearson will receive $2,500 from Koffel | Brininger | Nesbitt to dedicate toward his continuing legal studies.
Who is Seth Pearson?
Seth Pearson is an incoming 1L at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is in the process of pursuing clinics that allow law students to help community members build businesses and nonprofits, establishing themselves as entrepreneurs. He is also part of his school’s Business Law Society and Environmental Law Society.
He originally went to Shippensburg University to major in finance. There, he served as the President of the Investment Management Program. He also wrote his capstone paper on the review of alternative investments that people can make when establishing their portfolios.
Upon graduating, he pursued a career in economic development, intent on ensuring that clients establish realistic and successful portfolios, even if they didn’t have a comprehensive financial education.
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Learning Lessons in Moral Responsibility
Pearson’s time in the professional world saw him tackle complicated financial questions on behalf of clients, all while managing grant programs designed to help nonprofits and local businesses navigate complex financial situations.
His scholarship video sees him go into detail about how those experiences taught him the value of truthfulness and moral integrity. He notes that in his field and the legal industry, these elements are not optional but instead essential to a person’s professional success.
“You can achieve incredible professional success,” he says, “but lacking morals and failing to uphold your responsibilities as a human being, your reputation will be forever tarnished, and your moral failings will define you.” He adds that people who serve under the “attorney” title have to bear additional ethical responsibilities due to their position.
Enacting Moral and Ethical Practices in the Legal System
When asked about the role morals and ethical practices play in the legal industry, Pearson notes that, “An attorney’s moral responsibility in the application of the law is to be a servant and a steward to the legal system.
That means protecting, interpreting, and honoring the law, not for personal gain or legacy but instead for the betterment of the people within that system.”
He also notes that it is an attorney’s responsibility to ensure that the law is applied fairly to everyone who passes through the legal system. Attorneys, in his words, have a moral obligation to advise their clients honestly, even when the truth is uncomfortable, and pursue justice, even when it’s inconvenient.
“The law is not here to manipulate the system,” he notes. “Ethics are an anchor that prevent the law from drifting into corruption or inequality.”
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Legacy Takes Root in Moral Practices, Not Achievements
Pearson’s scholarship application hinges on the relationship between ethical legal practices and a lawyer’s legacy. To conclude his perspectives on morality in practice, he notes that an attorney’s legacy is not measured by the cases that they win or the settlements they win. Instead, an attorney’s legacy is built on their moral foundation.
When he graduates and enters the legal profession, Pearson intends to establish his career by committing to “the moral responsibility that defines the system.” He hopes, one day, to be remembered not only as a lawyer but as someone who used the law to do what was right.
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Seth Pearson’s Bright Future
Pearson hopes to use his legal degree and economic experience for the betterment of his clients. In his words, he has “thought about leveraging my financial degree to work within the financial legal world in regards to helping increase financial literacy, providing opportunities to those who lack personal financial skills, and to help prevent predatory financial practices.”
He also hopes to utilize his passion for protecting the environment to explore the professional intersection between today’s legal and agricultural industries.
No matter where his career takes him, he says that he “will make sure that I am helping someone who doesn’t have a voice.”
About the Moral Responsibility and the Application of Law Scholarship
Every year, the Moral Responsibility and the Application of Law Scholarship pushes applicants to break down the complexities of the legal system and elaborate on what it means to uphold ethical standards within the industry. That persistent commitment to moral responsibility continues to benefit legal clients facing some of the hardest days of their lives.
Students who can present a video going into detail about the importance of moral responsibility within the judicial system have the opportunity to secure up to $2,500.
That $2,500 can go directly to a student’s legal education and alleviate some of the financial stress that comes with a law school career.
Interested applicants can keep an eye on Koffel | Brininger | Nesbitt’s website for updates to the scholarship’s terms and conditions, as well as the deadline for 2026 scholarship applications.
Koffel | Brininger | Nesbitt Applauds Seth Pearson’s Success!
Seth Pearson’s careful, critical assessment of the importance of ethical responsibility and its impact not only on the legacy of lawyers but on the quality of life for legal clients made him stand out as a scholarship applicant.
Koffel | Brininger | Nesbitt hopes that the scholarship’s $2,500 will make his 1L year less stressful.
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