A law student scholarship in honor of Judge James L. Foreman has been established at the Southern Illinois University School of Law. The announcement took place May 21 in the law school courtroom.

Foreman, senior judge of U.S. District Court for the Southern District, retired May 12 on his 80th birthday after 35 years on the federal bench.

The Foreman scholarship fund is expected to generate a minimum $1,000 annually for outstanding second- or third-year law students from the 38 counties of the district.

The judge estimates that more than half of the 25 law clerks he has had were SIU law graduates. The scholarship honors him for promoting the law school in hiring graduates, said Benton attorney Richard O. Hart, a former member of the ISBA Board of Governors.

A 1952 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Foreman became a federal judge in 1972. He became chief judge of the district in 1979 and took senior status in 1992.

His successor, Judge J. Phil Gilbert, calls Foreman “the father of the Southern District” who laid the groundwork for its growth.

Foreman is credited with having the Southern District reconfigured so residents from as far away as Kankakee would not have to travel to Benton or East St. Louis.

The district now has four active judges, three magistrate judges, and three bankruptcy courts. The Benton facility also houses the U.S. attorney and federal public defender offices.

“All of us in Southern Illinois owe a deep sense of gratitude to this man,” Gilbert said.