2025 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: George Washington’s Kelly Hennessy

Each year, the Clinical Legal Education Association invites law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

From George Washington University Law School: 

CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student:  Kelly Hennessy

This year’s awardee fully embodies the qualities and spirit of the Clinical Legal Education Association Outstanding Student Award. The awardee shined throughout her time in Criminal Defense and Justice Clinic, approaching each one of her cases with exceptional creativity, compassion, and tenacity. In one particularly notable case, the awardee’s dedication and skill led to a rare and important victory for a client charged with distribution of marijuana. After months of litigation and extensive briefing, the awardee and her clinic partner successfully persuaded the court to dismiss their client’s case and find that the Metropolitan Police Department violated the client’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause by enforcing DC’s marijuana’s laws in a racially discriminatory manner. Although the awardee’s time in clinic concluded in the fall, she continued to work tirelessly on this case through the Spring, fighting against the government’s efforts to reverse the court’s decision. This year’s awardee of the Clinical Legal Education Association Outstanding Student Award goes to Kelly Hennessy.