Twenty-three 2015 law graduates were honored with awards recognizing their scholastic achievements and professional and personal leadership during their tenure at Vanderbilt Law School, and recognized during Commencement ceremonies May 8.
Robin E. Frazer of Lexington, Kentucky, was awarded the Founder’s Medal, signifying first honors in Vanderbilt Law School’s Class of 2015, at the university’s Commencement ceremony. Frazer also received Archie B. Martin Memorial Prize for Scholarship, awarded to the student of the first-year law class who earned the highest general average for the year for 2012-13, and the Robert F. Jackson Memorial Prize, awarded to the member of the second-year class who maintains the highest scholastic average during the first two years of law school.
Kendra Key of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, received the Bennett Douglas Bell Memorial Prize, awarded to “the student of the senior law class who is not only well-versed in the law, but who shows the highest conception of the ethics of the profession,” and the Chris Lantz Award, awarded each year to a student who demonstrates a dedication to developing a sense of community among her classmates with a strong capacity for leadership and commitment to her legal studies. This award was endowed by the Class of 2011 in memory of their friend and classmate Chris Lantz.
James Jackson Hill IV of Atlanta, Georgia, received the Philip G. Davidson Award, presented each year to the student who has demonstrated dedication to the law and its problem-solving role in society, and who has provided exemplary leadership in service to the law school and the greater community.
Quinton E. Thompson of Memphis, Tennessee, received the Damali A. Booker Award, presented each year to the third-year law student who has a keen dedication to legal activism and a demonstrated commitment to confronting social issues facing both Vanderbilt Law School and the greater Nashville community, and the K. Harlan Dodson Moot Court Staff Award, which goes to the senior member of the Moot Court staff, other than the chief justice, who has rendered the most outstanding service throughout the previous year in all aspects of the Moot Court program.
Kyle Austin Ewing of Las Vegas, Nevada, received the Weldon B. White Prize, awarded to the graduate who submitted the best paper in fulfillment of the law school’s advanced writing requirement.
Brynn Emily Applebaum of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, received the Stanley D. Rose Memorial Book Award for submitting the best legal writing in the field of jurisprudence or legal history in fulfillment of the law school’s advanced writing requirement.
Daniel John Hay of Old Bridge, New Jersey, received the Myron Penn Laughlin Note Award, awarded to the student who, other than the recipient of the Morgan Prize, contributed the best student Note published in the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Yiheng Liu of Katy, Texas, and Torry E. Samson of Grants Pass, Oregon, both received the Junius L. Allison Legal Aid Award, which honors graduates judged to have made the most significant contribution to the work of the Vanderbilt Legal Aid Society during their tenure at Vanderbilt.
Charles R. Jones of Destrehan, Louisiana, received the Carl J. Ruskowski Clinical Legal Education Award, which goes to the student who, in his or her representation of clients in the law school’s clinical program, demonstrated excellence in practice of law and best exemplified the highest standards of the legal profession.
Mary Julia Bressman Hannon of Nashville, Tennessee, and Kourtney Alyssa Traina of Peoria, Illinois, both received the Law Review Editor’s Award, which goes to the third-year editorial board members who make the most significant contributions to the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Mary Catallini Nicoletta of Tucson, Arizona, received the Law Review Candidates Award, awarded by the second-year staff of the Vanderbilt Law Review to the third-year staff member who had made the most significant contribution to their development as Law Review staff members.
Erin Elizabeth Sisson of Sedalia, Kentucky, received the G. Scott Briggs Transnational Legal Studies Award, awarded to the third-year student who has exhibited a high degree of scholastic achievement in transnational legal studies and who has made the most significant contribution to the development of international legal inquiries while a student at Vanderbilt.
Lydia M. Ansermet of Champaign, Illinois, received the Grace Wilson Sims Prize for Excellence in Student Writing in Transnational Law, awarded for submitting the best Note for publication in the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.
David William Roberts of Jacksonville, Florida, and Katherine Edwards West of Mountain Brook, Alabama, both received the Grace Wilson Sims Medal in Transnational Law, which goes to the editorial board member, other than the editor-in-chief, judged to have done the most outstanding work on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law during the academic year.
Mark D. Foley Jr. of Montgomery, Alabama, received the Chris Lantz Memorial Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law Outstanding Service Award, which goes to the student, other than the editor-in-chief, who has made the most significant contribution to the advancement of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law.
Megan Alice Metcalf of Westfield, Pennsylvania, received the National Association of Women Lawyers’ contributing to the advancement of women in society and promoting women’s issues in the legal profession, and “who has exhibited tenacity, enthusiasm and academic achievement while earning the respect of others.”
Peter Thomas Blumeyer of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, received the Jordan A. Quick Memorial Award, awarded to the student judged to have made the greatest contribution to the quality of life at the law school through leadership with the Vanderbilt Bar Association.
Monique Hannam of St. Ann, Jamaica, received the Richard Nagareda Award, awarded by the Cecil D. Branstetter Litigation and Dispute Resolution Program to recognize extraordinary achievement in the study of litigation and dispute resolution.
Patrick Carlisle Tricker of Pasadena, California, received the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law Student Writing Award, which goes to the graduate who submitted the most outstanding piece of student writing for publication in the journal.
Adam Troy Ratliff of Davison, Michigan, received the Thomas C. Banks Award for the Outstanding Jessup Moot Court Team Member, awarded by the competition team to the members who have made the greatest contribution to the overall success of the team during the previous year.