In 1991, the Louisiana Bar Foundation (LBF) Board of Directors established the Scholar-in-Residence (S-I-R) program to incorporate an academic and scholarly dimension to the organization. The program is intended to enhance the LBF's overall educational program, and to support legal education in Louisiana by bringing the practicing bar and Louisiana's law schools closer together. The Education Committee reviews applicants and makes a recommendation to the board. The S-I-R term is for two years and includes a $7,500 stipend. During these two years the scholar shall produce an academic work suitable for the intended LBF purpose. The S-I-R can be a professor, lawyer, law school dean, from the general public including teaches writers and other scholars.
The first S-I-R recipient was Professor Paul R. Baier of Louisiana State University Paul M. Herbert Law Center for his work titled Time and the Court. The original work, taken from an Oration on the Occasion of the Bicentennial of the Supreme Court of the United States and delivered on February 2, 1990, first appeared in the Louisiana Bar Journal, Vol. 38, No. 1.
Professor J. Randall Trahan of LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center served as the 2009-11 Scholar-In-Resident. Randall's work focused on Civil Law Methodology.