Mackenzi Barrett is a fifth-year student whose research focuses on health, healthcare fraud, and the environment. She served as the Executive Editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review for the 2025–2026 academic year, where she coordinated the write-on competition for first-year law students and oversaw the publication of student notes and administration of the journal. She has primarily worked as a research assistant for Professor W. Kip Viscusi on topics such as healthcare and risk regulation since 2023. During her summers while at Vanderbilt, she has worked for the Nashville Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development, Nashville Metro Legal, and Bass, Berry & Sims.

Before Vanderbilt, Mackenzi went to the University of Alabama, where she served as a research assistant for Professor Benjamin McMichael and a teaching assistant for Professor William Walsh. While at Alabama, she also was a member of the Randall Research Scholars Program. The Washington University Law Review recently published her article with Professors Viscusi and McMichael on the constitutionality of the False Claims Act, and they have a second forthcoming article on the False Claims Act in the Vanderbilt Law Review. Upon graduating in 2028, Mackenzi will be clerking for Judge Andrew Brasher on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Birmingham, Alabama.

Education:
M.A., Economics, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa), 2022
B.A., Economics and Philosophy, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa), 2022

Notable Accomplishments:

• Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award, 2024–2025
• Robert F. Jackson Memorial Prize, 2024–2025
• Archie B. Martin Memorial Prize 2022-2023
• A Constitutional False Claims Act, 102 Washington University Law Review (forthcoming 2024) (with Benjamin J. McMichael and W. Kip Viscusi).
• Vanderbilt Law Review Executive Editor 2025-2026