2025 Award Winners

Each year Northwestern Pritzker Law awards a variety of student awards and prizes including writing prizes, academic grade-based prizes, and community awards. Congratulations to this year's recipients.

Student Graduation Awards

It is a beloved graduation tradition for the graduating class to nominate and vote on the winners of the annual Student Awards, which recognize students for a range of accomplishments.

Courage Award

Awarded to the student who has shown the greatest courage in surmounting obstacles to completing his or her education

Aasiyah Wasif

Global Legal Profession Award

Awarded to the LLM student who has most exemplified standards of professionalism and has made the greatest contribution to the global legal profession

Jingyi Lei

Leadership Award

Awarded to the student who has made the greatest contribution to leadership in the student community

Gunhee Park

Legal Profession Award

Awarded to the student who has made the greatest contribution to professional responsibility and to the practice of law

Taylor Wagner Semakula

MSL Residential Student Award

Awarded to the graduating residential student who, through their impact on the program and the world, best exemplifies the innovative spirit of the MSL Program.

Chinmeri S. Nwuba

MSL Online Student Award

Awarded to the to the graduating online student who, through their impact on the program and the world, best exemplifies the innovative spirit of the MSL Program.

Kristin A. Weivoda

Service Award

Awarded to the student who has shown the greatest dedication and commitment to public service and the practice of law

Moon Hwan Lee

Victor Rosenblum Award

Awarded to the LLM student who has done the most to uphold the traditions of the Law School

Kaori Kawaguchi

Wigmore Key

Awarded to the student who has done the most to uphold the traditions of the Law School

Adrienne Margaret Redman

(on behalf of all the members of the Class of 2025 Graduation Committee)

Academic Prizes

Northwestern Pritzker Entrepreneurship Prize

Awarded to a second- or third-year law student who most exemplifies Northwestern Pritzker Law’s spirit of innovation, entrepreneurial drive, and integrity

Aryana Swanson

Fall 2024

Abhi Chakrabarti

Spring 2025

John Paul Stevens Prize for Academic Excellence

Awarded annually to the law student who graduates with the highest GPA in their class

Samuel Pritchard

The David S. Ruder Prize

Awarded to a student who intends to work in the public interest post-graduation, or after a judicial clerkship, and has logged the highest number of public service hours at the finish of their 2L year

Jordan Plunkett

Raoul Berger Prize

Awarded annually to the law student who submits the best paper in the Senior Research Program

Samy Abdelsalam

for their paper "Pulp Fiction: The Ex parte Young “Exception” to Sovereign Immunity"

Barnet & Scott Hodes Prize

Awarded to a law student who writes the best paper on an aspect of the law of local government

Jonathan Korger

for their paper "What the Free-Roaming Cats Dragged in: The Need for Zoning in the Era of Trap-Neuter-Return"

Harold D. Shapiro Prize

Awarded to the best student in the Business Planning course (or a similar course) at the Law School

Jessica Thompson

Leigh B. Bienen Prize

Awarded to the student who has written the best note or comment that has been selected for publication in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Nicholas Elliot-Smith

for their paper "Crimes Without Law: Administrative Crimes and the Nondelegation Doctrine" (forthcoming)

Kirkland & Ellis Scholars

The Kirkland & Ellis Scholars program was established in 2012 through the generosity of alumni and friends at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. The annual awards recognize the excellence of the top student in each section of the first-year substantive required classes. The program also extends to the highest achieving 2Ls in certain upper-level courses, including M&A, Securities, Private Equity, and Non-ITA Evidence.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Leigha Sommer (JD ’26)

Private Equity

Levi Wyrick (JD ’26)

Securities Regulation

Securities Regulation

Lowden-Wigmore Prizes

The Lowden-Wigmore Prizes were established by the Frank O. Lowden (Class of 1887) in honor of his relationship with Dean John Henry Wigmore. The prizes are awarded annually to members of the student body for their ability to marshal authority, present arguments effectively in written form, and speak lucidly and convincingly in public. These awards go to students for the best written contributions to each of the Law School's legal journals as well as the final round Moot Court participants.

Journal Prizes

Rowan Weisz Aragon

"Taking Back Control: Using the Takings Clause to Hold Animal Agriculture Responsible for Its Waste"
Northwestern University Law Review

Matthew Thomas Green

"Finding the Right Tool: How a Private Ordering Framework Can Achieve Carpenter’s Goals" (forthcoming)
Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Matthew Thomas Johnson

"Earned Wage Access: A Loan by Any Other Name?" (forthcoming)
Journal of Law and Social Policy

Serena Chu Lightstone

"Train or Restrain? Using International Perspectives to Inform the American Fair Use Analysis of Copyright in Generative Artificial Intelligence Training" (forthcoming)
Journal of International Law and Business

CJ Miller

"Yet Another Elected Power: A Case for Randomly Selected Forepersons" (forthcoming)
(second place contribution to JCLC)
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Victoria Wang

"Reproductive Governance in China: National Policies, Human Rights, and Accountability under International Law" (forthcoming)
Journal of Human Rights

Aasiyah Wasif

"Unveiling Injustice: The Case for Ending Guantanamo Bay and Extrajudicial Detention" (forthcoming)
Northwestern Law Journal des Refusés