Sutin Prize
The Sutin Prize is presented annually to the JURIST volunteer law student or students who best demonstrate outstanding commitment to the organization’s public service mission. The award is named in memory of Anthony L. Sutin (1959-2002), who dedicated his career to public service, legal education, and providing critical access to legal information. Sutin, an election law attorney, worked for the US Department of Justice and at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, DC, before going on to become a law professor at and eventually dean of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. He was also the very heart and soul of JURIST’s Bush v. Gore 2000 presidential election recount coverage. Even before the turn of the millennium, he was a great believer in JURIST’s ability to make critical and fast-developing legal issues accessible to a global audience. Tragically, Dean Sutin was killed in a shooting at the Appalachian School of Law in 2002. His widow, Margaret Lawton, very kindly consented to JURIST naming this award for him.
The 2024 recipients of the Sutin Prize are:
Lauren Ban
Rebekah Yeager-Malkin
Lauren Ban graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in May 2024. Lauren worked with JURIST for all three years of her law school career. She served as JURIST’s News Managing Editor from 2023-2024 and as JURIST’s US Bureau Chief from 2022-2023. Lauren is incredibly grateful for the experiences she had and the people she had the privilege of working alongside in those years. This summer, Lauren will sit for the bar in Pennsylvania. Afterwards, she plans to stay in Pennsylvania and work as a prosecutor.
Rebekah Yeager Malkin started their time with JURIST as a commentary editor and greatly enjoyed learning from all the law professors’ and students’ pieces they had the privilege to edit. They then spent the Summer of their 1L year interning for JURIST and honed their news writing skills. In their 2L year, they became Commentary Co-Managing Editor working to expand the reach of the commentary service across the globe. Then, during their 2L Summer, they interned with JURIST again. Finally, in their 3L year, they took over as JURIST Deputy Executive Editor, having the privilege of working with a dedicated global team of law students, creating a one-of-a-kind legal and journalistic resource. While they are sad to leave JURIST, they are so excited to see where the next generation of law students takes the service. Rebekah graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in May. Once they have been admitted to the Pennsylvania State Bar, they will be working for Heeter & Associates in Clarion, Pennsylvania, doing general practice legal work with a focus on estate planning and real estate law.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Sutin Prize.
Hannah Brem
Sambhav Sharma
Vishwajeet Deshmukh
Gabrielle Wast
Michael Barber
Tim Zubizarreta
Erin M. Holliday
Autumn Callan
Kelly Cullen
Ram Eachambadi
David Rodkey
Joseph Macklin
Taylor Gillan
Maria Coladonato
Alex Ferraro
Arjun Mishra
Jaimie Cremeans
Sean Gallagher
Clay Flaherty
Dan Taglioli
Dwyer Arce
Josh Sanders
Ingrid Burke
Andrew Morgan
Mark Hamilton
Devin Montgomery
Caitlin Price
Jaime Jansen
Joshua Pantesco
Brett Murphy
Andrew Wood
Jeannie Shawl Award
The Jeannie Shawl Award is presented annually to the JURIST volunteer law student or students who best demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation, initiative, and selfless dedication to JURIST’s mission. The Award is named for Jeannie Shawl, a member of JURIST’s very first class of law student writers and JURIST’s first-ever Executive Director. Her leadership, initiative, innovative spirit, and selfless dedication transformed JURIST from a limited academic project to an international publisher of legal news and analysis.
The 2024 recipients of the Jeannie Shawl Award is:
James Joseph
James Joseph is JURIST’s Managing Editor for Long Form Content. James has completed his Master’s in politics and international law from Keele University School of Law in the UK and has been a staff correspondent for JURIST for two years. James also provides secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hazara in the UK Parliament and will start his PhD at Queens University Belfast School of Law in the fall.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Jeannie Shawl Award.
Katherine Gemmingen
Akshita Tiwary
Neelabh Bist
Joshua Cossin
Vishwajeet Deshmukh
Gabrielle Wast
Tim Zubizarreta
Erin M. Holliday
Allison Hall
Steven Wildberger
Josh Guckert
Kimberly Bennett
Elizabeth Imbarlina
Julia Zebley
Greg Johnson Collaboration Award
The Greg Johnson Collaboration Award was presented for the first time in 2021. The award is named for Professor Greg Johnson, Director of the Legal Writing Program at Vermont Law School, whose foresight, enthusiasm, and commitment to the greater good of his law students set JURIST on a collaborative multi-institutional and multi-jurisdictional path that in unexpectedly short order made it possible for JURIST to become a worldwide enterprise benefiting a range of law students and readers far broader than anything he or we ever imagined. Today Greg oversees a growing JURIST Chapter at Vermont, coordinating recruiting, being a mentor to students, and helping them organize chapter activities. We are immensely grateful for all he has done for his students and JURIST. As JURIST expands nationally and internationally, collaboration between members of our law student staff becomes more important than ever, not only for successful teamwork but also for building mutual understanding and empathy, as well as relational attitudes and capacities important for truly successful lawyers that we hope will last a lifetime. This award will be presented annually to the member or members of JURIST’s law student staff who best exemplify the collaborative nature and capacity-building initiative modeled by the award’s namesake Greg Johnson.
The 2024 recipient of the Greg Johnson Collaboration Award is:
Aimee Woodmass
Aimee Woodmass is a 2024 graduate of Newcastle Law School in the UK. She served as JURIST’s UK Bureau Chief from 2023-2024.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Greg Johnson Collaboration Award.
Lauren Ban
Edgar Odongo
Katherine Gemmingen
Akshita Tiwary
Kristen Doyan
Steve Herman Correspondents Award
The Steve Herman Correspondents Award goes to one or more JURIST correspondents who in the past year have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to providing local coverage of critical law-related developments occurring in their jurisdictions. It is named for Steve Herman, the JURIST Journalist in Residence for the 2022-2023 academic year. Steve is Chief National Correspondent for the Voice of America in Washington, DC, and was formerly VOA’s White House Bureau Chief. He spent more than a quarter of a century in Asia, including years of reporting from Tokyo and subsequently as a VOA correspondent and bureau chief in India, Korea and Thailand. Herman also served in 2016 as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, based at the State Department. His travels have taken him to approximately 75 countries, doing on-scene reporting from combat zones, civil uprisings and areas struck by major natural disasters.
The 2024 recipient of the Steve Herman Award is:
Marissa Zupancic
Marissa Zupancic graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in May 2024. She served as JURIST’s DC Correspondent during her final semester of law school. Marissa is grateful to have had the opportunity to sit in the US Supreme Court and cover historic cases. She plans to pursue legal journalism and owes this change of career trajectory to JURIST.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Steve Herman Correspondents Award.
Justin Esiobu
David M. Crane Rule of Law Award
The David M. Crane Rule of Law Award goes to a JURIST journalist who, in the face of formidable obstacles, exhibits extraordinary dedication and integrity in uncovering and scrutinizing critical rule of law issues. David M. Crane was the founding chief prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal in West Africa called the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It successfully prosecuted those who bore the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the first sitting African head of state in history, President Charles Taylor. He recently published a book on his experience there called Every Living Thing, the first time a prosecutor has written about his daily experiences seeking justice for victims of atrocity. Dr. Crane served 30 years in the US federal government prior to his selection by Kofi Annan to be the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court. A member of the Senior Executive Service of the United States, he retired from federal service as the Director of the Office of Intelligence Review in the Department of Defense. Since leaving West Africa, Dr. Crane has been a leading force in seeking justice for the people of Syria through the Syrian Accountability Project and assisting in creating the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism for the Republic of Syria. The Syrian Accountability Project is part of the Global Accountability Network (which he founded) that also houses the Yemeni Accountability Project and the newly created Venezuelan Accountability Project, as well as the Uyghur and Ukrainian Accountability Projects. He recently retired as a professor at Syracuse University College of Law where he founded Impunity Watch. Dr. Crane is currently a distinguished scholar in residence at Syracuse University and an adjunct professor with the Washington College of Law of American University where he teaches international criminal practice.
The 2024 recipient of the David M. Crane Rule of Law Award is:
Sara A.
Distinguished Alumni Award
JURIST, of course, engages law students while they are in law school, but law students graduate and go on to other things. Or at least that’s what usually happens in most other organizations. JURIST is different, however, in that many of our former law student staffers tend to stick around. In fact, several members of our professional staff and most members of our Board of directors are JURIST alumni. Some alumni continue to write and report for JURIST after they’ve graduated, and others continue to contribute in other ways. Each year, JURIST will recognize a member of our alumni who has gone above and beyond in contributing to JURIST even after leaving law school.
The 2024 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award is:
Sambhav Sharma
Sambhav Sharma is an Associate in the Dispute Resolution team at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co., New Delhi, one of the leading full-service law firms in India. Before joining Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Sambhav served as a Judicial Law Clerk-cum-Research Associate at the Supreme Court of India. Sambhav has served as a news writer, commentary editor and Deputy Dispatches Editor during his two years with JURIST. As a proponent of Access to Justice and Information, he strives to keep contributing to JURIST’s mission and wishes the best to the team.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Erin Holliday
Ryan Olden
Maeve McDermott
Wohlmuth Awards
Wohlmuth Awards are given annually to select volunteer staff members to recognize extraordinary dedication. The award is named for Paul Wohlmuth, who was a professor at the University of San Diego Law School. Already in the early 1990s, even before JURIST had begun, he was a champion of innovative thinking in the law. Later in the decade, he established the Institute of Law & Systems Research, which was subsequently headed up by his partner Alice Anda and provided JURIST’s first seed funds.
The 2024 recipients of JURIST’s Wohlmuth Awards are:
- Salma Ben Souissi – The University of Law London, GB
- Alexis Boddy – City University London, GB
- Mélanie Cantin – University of Ottawa School of Law, CA
- Derren Chan – University of British Columbia, CA; University of Hong Kong, HK
- JP Leskovich – University of Pittsburgh School of Law, US
- Jingwen Liu – Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK
- Nova Kruijning – Maastricht University Faculty of Law, NL
- Yuxin (Chloe) Nie – Wuhan University School of Law, CN
- Lana Osei – Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Faculty of Law, GH
- Shashank Pandey – The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, IN
- Daniela Pulido – Facultad de Derecho PUCP, PE
- Sophia Richards – University of Newcastle, AU
- Madeline Yingling – University of Pittsburgh School of Law, US