Twenty-eight 2009 law 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 8.
Tory Hodges Lewis of Alpena, Arkansas, received the 2009 Founders Medal at Vanderbilt Law School for finishing first in her class. Lewis also received the Morgan Prize, for submitting the most outstanding piece of student writing to the Vanderbilt Law Review the previous year.
Jesse Ray Menlove of Boise, Idaho, 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 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years.
Matthew Hardwick Blumenstein received the Archie B. Martin Memorial Prize, awarded to the first-year student who maintained the highest general average, for his achievement during the 2006-07 academic year. Blumenstein also received the Weldon B. White Prize, for submitting the best paper in the fulfillment of the law school’s advanced writing requirement, and the Cecil D. Branstetter Litigation & Dispute Resolution Program Award, awarded for extraordinary achievement in the study of litigation and dispute resolution.
Tara Rica Murdock of Murray, Kentucky, and Rebecca Lynn Stubbs of Springdale, Arkansas, 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.
J. Stanton Hill of Palm Harbor, Florida, 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.
Rafael Ernesto Romero Morena of Managua, Nicaragua, received the LL.M. Research Prize, which honors the LL.M. graduate who submitted the best research and writing project.
Lauren Mckenzie Lowe of Nashville, Tennessee 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.”
Georgia Lee Sims, of Nashville, Tennessee, 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. Sims also 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.
Scott Franklin Goldman 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.
Byron Sarhangian of Phoenix, Arizona, received the Jordan Quick Memorial Award, for his contribution to the life of the law school through leadership with the Vanderbilt Bar Association.
DeNae Marie Thomas of Woodinville, Washington, received 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. The association provides an honorary membership for a year, which includes receipt of its publications and other membership benefits.
Aaron Michael Moyer of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, and Lesley Rand Attkisson of Atlanta, Georgia, both received the Law Review Editor’s Awards for making the most significant contributions to the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Joseph Logan Murphy of Sarasota, Florida; Kristin Cooke Davis of Darien, Connecticut; Camielle Nisanah Green of Port Maria, Jamaica; Matthew Michael Morrissey of Chicago, Illinois; and Brenton Tippett Culpepper of Warner Robins, Georgia, together 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.
John Edward Haubenrich of Knoxville, Tennessee, 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.
Steven Bernard Berneman of Houston, Texas, won the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law Student Writing Award for submitting the most outstanding piece of student writing to the publication.
Brandon Cody Martin of Lakeside, Arizona, 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.
Andrew Jacob Ross of Cordova, Tennessee, and Eric Fugett of Muldrow, Oklahoma, received the Carl J. Ruskowski Clinical Legal Education Award, for demonstrating excellence in the practice of law in their representation of clients through the law school’s clinical program.
Ronald Wilson Loftis of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 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.
Casey Lynn Fielser of Newnan, Georgia, 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.
Danielle Marie Quinn of Upper Montclaire, New Jersey, received 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.
John Benjamin Schrader of San Antonio, Florida, 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.