Alumna Awarded Prestigious Fellowship in U.S. Solicitor General's Office
Lena Husani Hughes '12 Will Serve as a 2015 Bristow Fellow Assisting U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. '83; Hughes is the Second Graduate to Receive the Honor in Two Years
New York, December 2, 2014—Columbia Law School graduate Lena Husani Hughes ’12 has been selected as one of four 2015-2016 Bristow Fellows by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General. She will serve under distinguished alumnus and U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. ’83.
Hughes is the second Columbia Law School graduate to receive the honor in two years. Z. Payvand Ahdout ’13 began the one-year fellowship in July.
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| Lena Husani Hughes ’12 outside her office at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. |
“I am excited to learn from a team of brilliant advocates, and I look forward to observing some of the finest oral advocacy in the country,” Hughes said.
An associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City, Hughes previously worked as a law clerk to Professor Gerard E. Lynch ’75, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Denise Cote ’75 of the Southern District of New York.
Hughes received many honors during her time at the Law School. In recognition of her status as a James Kent Scholar for outstanding academic achievement in each of her three years, she won the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Prize. She also won the Wilfred Feinberg Prize for best work in an area related to the federal courts.
Outside of the classroom, Hughes was a research assistant for Columbia Law School professors Sarah H. Cleveland, Bert I. Huang, and Lance Liebman. She also served as articles editor for the Columbia Law Review.
Bristow Fellows are chosen from law school graduates with excellent academic records—many with clerkship experience. They assist attorneys in the Office of the Solicitor General in drafting briefs in opposition to certiorari filed against the government in the U.S. Supreme Court, preparing petitions for certiorari and briefs on the merits, preparing recommendations regarding authorization of government appeals in the lower courts, and assisting in the preparation of oral arguments before the high court.
Hughes will begin her fellowship next summer.