Eighteen 2012 law graduates were honored with awards recognizing their scholastic achievements and professional and personal leadership during their tenure at Vanderbilt Law School, and recognized at Commencement May 11.
Karen Usselman Lindell was awarded the Founder’s Medal, signifying first honors in Vanderbilt Law School’s Class of 2012, at the university’s commencement ceremony. Lindell was also winner of 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, in 2009-10; 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 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. She shared the Law Review Editor’s Award, which honors the third-year editorial board members who have made the most significant contributions to the Vanderbilt Law Review, with Rebecca Dunnan. Lindell is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and will clerk for Judge Kent Jordan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Wilmington Delaware during 2012-13.
Evan M. Brewer 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, and the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law Outstanding Editor Award, which goes to the member of the third-year staff selecting as having done the most outstanding work on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law during the academic year. Brewer is from Reno, Nevada.
Megan V. LaDriere 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, and the National Association of Women Lawyers’ Outstanding Law Student Award, which goes to the student 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 profession, and “who has exhibited tenacity, enthusiasm, and academic achievement while earning the respect of others.” LaDriere is from Dallas, Texas.
Samara Spence 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, and the Grace Wilson Sims Medal in Transnational Law, awarded to the editorial board member, other than the editor-in-chief, selected as having done the most outstanding work on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law during the academic year. Spence is a native of Austin, Texas.
William A. Airhart 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. Airhart is from Houghton, New York.
Nathan C. Pysno received the Morgan Prize for submitting the most outstanding piece of student writing to the Vanderbilt Law Review during his second year.
John C. Williams received the Myron Penn Laughlin Note Award, which goes to the student, other than the winner of the Morgan Prize, who contributed the best student Note published in the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Marie Elizabeth Roper received the Grace Wilson Sims Medal in Transnational Law, awarded to the member of the graduating class contributing the best Note submitted for publication in the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.
Rebecca Dunnan of New York, New York, and Karen Usselman Lindell of Atlanta, Georgia, shared the Law Review Editor’s Award, which goes to the third-year editorial board members who make the most significant contributions to the Law Review.
Mary Alexander Myers received the Law Review Candidates Award, awarded by the second-year Vanderbilt Law Review staff to the third-year student, other than the editor-in-chief, who has made the most significant contribution to the development of Law Review staff members. Myers is from Trion, Georgia.
Rachel Beck 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. Beck is a native of Leawood, Kansas.
Gavin Reinke 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. Reinke is from Naples, Florida.
Matthew J. Meltzer received 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. Meltzer is from Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Ashley Dennis received the Damali A. Booker Award, which is 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. Dennis is from Duncanville, Texas.
Virginia Maynard Yetter received the Junius L. Allison Legal Aid Award, which goes to the graduate judged to have made the most significant contribution to the work of the Vanderbilt Legal Aid Society during his tenure at Vanderbilt. Yetter is a native of of Maitland, Florida.
Kathryn R. Brown 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. Brown is a native of Rockville Centre, New York.
Mark A. Hammervold 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. Hammervold is from Edmunds, Oklahoma.
Kent R. McKeever 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. McKeever is from Abilene, Texas.
