‘Birthday Gift’ of $1.25 Million to Benefit Generations of Rutgers Law Students
September 25, 2026
Rutgers Foundation
Types : In the News
An anonymous gift to the Rutgers Law School in Camden funding a scholarship named for Joel B. Rosen, a retired federal magistrate judge and 1973 Rutgers Law alumnus, will support law students in financial need. The gift was celebrated in honor of Rosen’s 80th birthday.
When Rhasheda Douglas was a first-year law student in Camden in 1999, she was among a group of Rutgers Law students invited to visit U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel B. Rosen’s courtroom for a civil procedure review session before final exams.
“I will never forget being in that courtroom—my first time ever being in a federal courthouse—and thinking, ‘Why is he being so nice to us?’” said Douglas, a 2002 graduate of Rutgers Law School in Camden who after practicing law joined the school in 2016 and today serves as associate dean of the Minority Student Program.
Douglas said she learned that Rosen’s generosity of spirit and willingness to mentor and support young law students and attorneys were pervasive in the legal community through three decades of knowing him. “He has inspired not only me, but countless others,” she said.