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2008 award winners announced at Commencement
Release Date: May 23, 2008
Twenty-one 2008 graduates, including students earning J.D.s and LL.M.s, were honored with awards recognizing their scholastic achievement and professional leadership during their tenure at Vanderbilt Law School at the law school’s Commencement ceremony May 9.
Leah Jo Bressack of Los Altos, California, received the 2008 Founders Award at Vanderbilt Law School for finishing first in her class, and the Cecil D. Branstetter Litigation and Dispute Resolution Program Award, for extraordinary achievement in the study of litigation and dispute resolution. During her 1L and 2L years, Bressack also won the Robert F. Jackson Memorial Prize, which goes to the member of the second-year class who maintained the highest scholastic average during his or her first two years, awarded for their achievement during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years, and the Archie B. Martin Memorial Prize, awarded to the first-year student who maintains the highest general average for her achievement during the 2005-06 academic year.
Nicole Stephanie Lerescu of Ridgewood, New Jersey, received the Weldon B. White Prize, for submitting the best paper in the fulfillment of the law school’s advanced writing requirement.
Christopher Andrew Bowles of Berlin, Vermont, and Alyson Smith Podris of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, received the Bennett Douglas Bell Memorial Prize, which goes to the graduate who “is not only well versed in the law, but who shows the highest conception of the ethics of the profession.”
Angela Avis Holland, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, received the Damali A. Booker Award, presented each year to a graduate who has shown a keen dedication to legal activism and a demonstrated commitment to confronting social issues facing the law school and the greater community. Holland also received the*Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law Outstanding Editor Award*, to the member of the third-year staff who has done the most outstanding work on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law during the previous year, and the National Association of Women Lawyers’ Outstanding Law Student Award, which goes to the graduate whose law school involvement best fulfills the goals of contributing to the advancement of women in society and promoting women’s issues in the legal professional, and who has exhibited tenacity, enthusiasm and academic achievement while earning the respect of others. This award includes an honorary year’s membership in the National Association of Women Lawyers.
Scott Patton Tift received the Philip G. Davidson III Memorial Award, which goes to the student, chosen by the Vanderbilt Bar Association Board of Governors, who is dedicated to the law and its problem-solving role in society, and who provides exemplary leadership in service to the law school and the greater community.
Angela Avis Holland and Scott Patton Tift received the Junius L. Allison Legal Aid Award, which goes to the graduates judged to have made the most significant contribution to the work of the Vanderbilt Legal Aid Society.
James Robert Irving of Louisville, Kentucky, received the Jordan Quick Memorial Award, for his contribution to the life of the law school through leadership with the Vanderbilt Bar Association.
William Carlos Spaht of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, received the Morgan Prize, for submitting the most outstanding piece of student writing to the Vanderbilt Law Review the previous year.
Yasmine Carson of Antioch, Tennessee, and Russell Norton Fraker of Vancouver, Canada, received the G. Scott Briggs Transnational Legal Studies Award, for scholastic achievement in transnational legal studies and for making the most significant contribution to the development of international legal inquiry while a student at Vanderbilt Law School.
Lisa Carrin Edwards of Woodbridge, Connecticut, received the Grace Wilson Sims Prize for Excellence in Student Writing in Transnational Law, for contributing the best “Note” submitted for publication to the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.
Thomas Daniel Wuertenberger of Freiberg, Germany, received the LL.M. Research Prize, which honors the LL.M. graduate who submitted the best research and writing project.
Anna Virginia Henderson of St. Louis, Missouri, received the Law Review Editor’s Award, for making the most significant contribution to the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Kimyatta Ebonik McClary of Nashville, Tennessee, and Joseph Logan Murphy (Class of 2009) received the Thomas C. Banks Award, selected and awarded by the Jessup Moot Court competition team to the members who have made the greatest contribution to the team’s success during the prior year.
Christopher Donald Tomlinson of Dallas, Texas, won the Myron Penn Laughlin Note Award, to the student other than the recipient of the Morgan Prize, who contributed the best student “Note” published in the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Lauren Brittan Patten of Nashville, Tennessee, won the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law Student Writing Award for submitting the most outstanding piece of student writing to the publication.
Erin Elizabeth Kaiser of Beaver, Pennsylvania, received the K. Harlan Dodson Moot Court Staff Award, to the senior member of the Moot Court staff, other than the chief justice, who has rendered the most outstanding service to the Moot Court program.
Tammra Sharee Mitchell of Aragon, Georgia, received the Carl J. Ruskowski Clinical Legal Education Award, for demonstrating excellence in the practice of law in her representation of clients through the law school’s clinical program.
Yasmine Carson of Antioch, Tennessee, received the Grace Wilson Sims Medal in Transnational Law, awarded to the editorial board member other than the editor-in-chief who has done the most outstanding work on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law during the previous year.
Abbey Leigh Mansfield of Troy, Michigan, received the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law Outstanding Service Award, awarded to the editorial staff member who has made the most significant contribution to the journal’s advancement.
Blake Garrett Betheil of Mt. Sinai, New York, and Daniel Wayne Robertson Jr. of Dublin, Ohio, received the Law Review Candidates Award, awarded by second-year Law Review staff to the graduating staff members, other than the editor-in-chief, who make the most significant contribution to their development as Law Review staff members.
