By Sharon Morio­ka
Michigan Law

As the 2023?–?2024 aca­d­e­m­ic year draws to a close, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan Law School has announced the recip­i­ents of its annu­al stu­dent awards, includ­ing its most pres­ti­gious hon­ors: the Bates, Mix­er, and Stenn awards.

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Hen­ry M. Bates Memo­r­i­al Schol­ar­ship Award

Nicholas Gadola Holmes, Emil­ia Rose Maluf, Ben­jamin D. Mar­vin-Van­der­ryn, Jor­dan Ari Schuler

Pre­sent­ed to out­stand­ing seniors in the Law School, with account tak­en of schol­ar­ship in legal stud­ies, per­son­al­i­ty, char­ac­ter, extracur­ric­u­lar inter­ests, and promise of a dis­tin­guished career. The award was estab­lished in 1949 through the gen­eros­i­ty of alum­ni and friends of the Law School in mem­o­ry of the late Dean Hen­ry M. Bates.

• Nicholas Gadola Holmes received the Class of 1908 Memo­r­i­al Schol­ar­ship Award for attain­ing the high­est scholas­tic aver­age at the start of his third year and mul­ti­ple cer­tifi­cates of mer­it. He served on the exec­u­tive board of Michi­gan Law’s Fed­er­al­ist Soci­ety chap­ter and host­ed events that brought eight fed­er­al judges to the Law School. He served as a senior edi­tor on the Michi­gan Law Review, co-pres­i­dent of the Catholic Law Stu­dents Asso­ci­a­tion, co-pres­i­dent of the Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Law Soci­ety, and coor­di­na­tor at Michi­gan for the Syr­i­an Account­abil­i­ty Project. Fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion, Holmes will serve as a law clerk for the Hon. Britt Grant on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Cir­cuit and then for the Hon. Jef­frey Sut­ton, chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

• Emil­ia Rose Maluf received the Helen L. DeRoy Memo­r­i­al Award for her note in the Michi­gan Law Review on the First Amend­ment impli­ca­tions of vot­er iden­ti­fi­ca­tion laws for trans­gen­der vot­ers. She was an edi­tor for the Michi­gan Law Review and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan Jour­nal of Law Reform. She served as a stu­dent-attor­ney with the Civ­il Rights Lit­i­ga­tion Ini­tia­tive and worked with the Evic­tion Defense Team. Maluf, who received the 2023 Jen­ny Run­k­les Memo­r­i­al Award, co-found­ed Michi­gan Advo­cates for Civ­il Jus­tice and co-chaired the Michi­gan Vot­ing Project and the ACLU stu­dent chap­ter. She will clerk for the Hon. Toby J. Heytens on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Cir­cuit and the Hon. Deb­o­rah L. Board­man on the US Dis­trict Court for the Dis­trict of Maryland.

• Ben­jamin D. Mar­vin-Van­der­ryn served as a book review edi­tor for the Michi­gan Law Review. He was a semi­fi­nal­ist in the Hen­ry M. Camp­bell Moot Court Com­pe­ti­tion as a 2L and served on the exec­u­tive board of the com­pe­ti­tion as the rules chair the fol­low­ing year. He was a research assis­tant for mul­ti­ple pro­fes­sors, served as a senior judge for the First-Year Legal Prac­tice pro­gram, and won a num­ber of cer­tifi­cate of mer­it awards. Mar­vin-Van­der­ryn also worked as a stu­dent-attor­ney in the Crim­i­nal Appel­late Prac­tice Clin­ic. Fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion, he will clerk for the Hon. Beryl A. How­ell on the US Dis­trict Court for the Dis­trict of Colum­bia and then for the Hon. Pamela Har­ris on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

• As a stu­dent direc­tor of the Vot­ing Rights Ini­tia­tive, Jor­dan Ari Schuler helped track and ana­lyze lit­i­ga­tion under Sec­tion 2 of the Vot­ing Rights Act to aid prac­ti­tion­ers. After his first year, he received the Jef­frey S. Lehman Legal Prac­tice Award and mul­ti­ple cer­tifi­cates of mer­it. He fin­ished third in the 2023?–?2024 Hen­ry M. Camp­bell Moot Court Com­pe­ti­tion and served on its exec­u­tive board the pre­vi­ous year. He also served as a stu­dent-attor­ney in the Fed­er­al Appel­late Lit­i­ga­tion Clin­ic, a notes edi­tor of the Michi­gan Law Review, co-pres­i­dent of the Jew­ish Law Stu­dents Asso­ci­a­tion, and a co-cap­tain of MLaw FC, the Law School’s soc­cer team. After grad­u­a­tion, Schuler will clerk for the Hon. Rachel Bloomekatz on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

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Jane L. Mix­er Memo­r­i­al Award

Olivia Jack­son Daniels, Nethra K. Raman, Schuyler Schill Stupica

Pre­sent­ed to the stu­dents who have made the great­est con­tri­bu­tion to activ­i­ties designed to advance the cause of social jus­tice. Stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, and staff pro­vide nom­i­na­tions for the award, which was estab­lished in 1969 through the gen­eros­i­ty of alum­ni and friends in mem­o­ry of the late Jane L. Mix­er, who died while she was a stu­dent at the Law School.

• Olivia Jack­son Daniels served as a board mem­ber of MDefend­ers and the Stu­dent Rights Project. She also served on the board of the Sen­tence Com­mu­ta­tion Project, which helps incar­cer­at­ed peo­ple in Michi­gan seek clemen­cy. She helped build the project into an offi­cial stu­dent group along­side Schuyler Schill Stupi­ca and many oth­ers. Through her pro bono work, her expe­ri­ence as a stu­dent-attor­ney for the Michi­gan Inno­cence Clin­ic, and as an intern for two pub­lic defend­er offices, Daniels has worked close­ly with peo­ple direct­ly affect­ed by the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem. She also was a quar­ter­fi­nal­ist in the Hen­ry M. Camp­bell Moot Court Com­pe­ti­tion. Fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion, she will clerk for the Hon. Joshua Deahl on the Dis­trict of Colum­bia Court of Appeals before pur­su­ing work in pub­lic defense.

• Nethra K. Raman was a book review edi­tor for the Michi­gan Law Review, a research assis­tant for sev­er­al pro­fes­sors, co-pres­i­dent of If/?When/?How: Lawyer­ing for Repro­duc­tive Jus­tice, and a fel­low in the Pro­gram in Race, Law, and His­to­ry. As a stu­dent-attor­ney with the Civ­il Rights Lit­i­ga­tion Ini­tia­tive, she worked on a case in coor­di­na­tion with the Amer­i­can Civ­il Lib­er­ties Union and the ACLU of Michi­gan involv­ing a wrong­ful arrest due to faulty use of facial recog­ni­tion tech­nol­o­gy.
Raman had extern­ships with the nation­al ACLU, Rights Behind Bars, and the MacArthur Jus­tice Cen­ter. She will begin her career as a legal fel­low with the MacArthur Jus­tice Cen­ter and then will clerk for the Hon. Roger Gre­go­ry on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

• Pro bono ser­vice has been an inte­gral part of Schuyler Schill Stupica’s Michi­gan Law expe­ri­ence. She has been a board mem­ber of the Stu­dent Rights Project and is a co-founder of the Sen­tence Com­mu­ta­tion Project, which she and Olivia Jack­son Daniels turned into an offi­cial orga­ni­za­tion at Michi­gan Law. Stupi­ca also served as a stu­dent-attor­ney in the Juve­nile Jus­tice Clin­ic and as an Abo­li­tion Study Group facil­i­ta­tor through the Law School’s chap­ter of the Nation­al Lawyers Guild. She was a quar­ter­fi­nal­ist in the Hen­ry M. Camp­bell Moot Court Com­pe­ti­tion, where she was award­ed Best Peti­tion­er Brief in the quar­ter­fi­nal round. Stupi­ca is involved in MDefend­ers and will work as a tri­al attor­ney with the Office of the Col­orado State Pub­lic Defend­er after graduation.

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Irv­ing Stenn Jr. Award

Andrew Del Vec­chio, James ?“Tre” W. Fitts III, Eric Matthew Walk­er, Eve­lyn Winter

Pre­sent­ed to stu­dents who have demon­strat­ed lead­er­ship and con­tributed, through extracur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties, to the well-being and strength of the Law School or Uni­ver­si­ty. The award, estab­lished in 1976, is made pos­si­ble through the gen­eros­i­ty of Irv­ing Stenn Jr. and his father, Irv­ing Stenn Sr., of Chicago.

• Andrew Del Vec­chio is the founder and direc­tor of the Michi­gan Tri­al Acad­e­my, the Law School’s first stu­dent-run tri­al advo­ca­cy train­ing pro­gram. He pre­vi­ous­ly served as pres­i­dent of the com­pet­i­tive Mock Tri­al team and chair of the Hen­ry M. Camp­bell Moot Court Com­pe­ti­tion board. He worked as a stu­dent-attor­ney in the Michi­gan Inno­cence Clin­ic and a senior judge for the First-Year Legal Prac­tice pro­gram. Del Vec­chio has expe­ri­ence as a research assis­tant, peer tutor, and res­i­dent assis­tant in the Lawyers Club and also received five cer­tifi­cates of mer­it. He will clerk for the Hon. David W. McK­eague on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Cir­cuit and then for the Hon. Christo­pher R. Coop­er on the US Dis­trict Court for the Dis­trict of Columbia.

• As exec­u­tive devel­op­ment edi­tor of the Michi­gan Law Review, James ?“Tre” W. Fitts III led the journal’s recruit­ment and diver­si­ty, equi­ty, and inclu­sion ini­tia­tives. He also served as judge chair on the exec­u­tive board of the Hen­ry M. Camp­bell Moot Court Com­pe­ti­tion, a senior judge for the First-Year Legal Prac­tice pro­gram, media chair for the Black Law Stu­dents Asso­ci­a­tion, and co-chair of the Alden J. ?“Butch” Car­pen­ter Memo­r­i­al Schol­ar­ship Award com­mit­tee (after win­ning the award as a 1L). He also was a stu­dent-attor­ney in the Child Advo­ca­cy Law Clin­ic and Child Wel­fare Appel­late Clin­ic. He co-authored a forth­com­ing book chap­ter on antic­i­pa­to­ry neglect doc­trine in Amer­i­can child wel­fare law. He will clerk for the Hon. Jamar K. Walk­er on the US Dis­trict Court for the East­ern Dis­trict of Virginia.

• Eric Matthew Walk­er was pres­i­dent of the Michi­gan Law Fed­er­al­ist Soci­ety, a quar­ter­fi­nal­ist and co-chair of the 1L Oral Advo­ca­cy Com­pe­ti­tion, and a board mem­ber of the Chris­t­ian Legal Soci­ety. He served as a senior judge in the First-Year Legal Prac­tice pro­gram, was a research assis­tant to two pro­fes­sors, and co-authored a stu­dent note under the super­vi­sion of anoth­er pro­fes­sor. He also was a senior edi­tor of the Michi­gan Law Review and a sym­po­sium edi­tor of the Har­vard Jour­nal of Law & Pub­lic Pol­i­cy. Walk­er will clerk for the Hon. Joan L. Larsen on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Cir­cuit, join Jones Day in Wash­ing­ton, DC, as an asso­ciate, and then clerk for the Hon. Lawrence VanDyke on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

• Eve­lyn Win­ter cre­at­ed men­tor­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties and devel­oped 1L pro­gram­ming in her roles as co-chair of the First-Year Infor­ma­tion pro­gram, men­tor­ship chair for the Women Law Stu­dents Asso­ci­a­tion, and mem­ber­ship coor­di­na­tor for the Michi­gan Jour­nal of Gen­der & Law. She also was com­mu­ni­ca­tions chair for the Amer­i­can Con­sti­tu­tion Soci­ety and logis­tics and out­reach chair for the 1L Oral Advo­ca­cy Com­pe­ti­tion. Win­ter will begin her career as an asso­ciate with Jen­ner & Block in Chicago.

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