2025 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: WashU’s Lawson Sadler and Sophia Carney

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 Washington University School of Law:

CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student: Lawson Sadler 

Graduating 3L Lawson Sadler exemplified excellence in WashU Law’s Clinical Education Program, though her hard work and dedication in both the Immigration Law Clinic and the Appellate Clinic. As a Fall 2024 student in the Immigration Law Clinic, Lawson represented nine immigrant clients. Lawson initially represented three immigrant families seeking permanent legal status, including one case scheduled for trial during the semester. When the trial was cancelled, Lawson calmly explained the situation to her clients and devised a case plan to keep the case active during the delay. In separate cases, Lawson supported asylum seeking families through affidavit preparation, legal memo drafting, employment authorization applications, and obtaining a state ID. Lawson sought out additional tasks, including preparing a client for an unexpected hearing, and advising the wife of a client on her eligibility to naturalize. Lawson also volunteered additional time to participate in community-organized workshops for immigrants. Lawson’s thorough yet efficient work habits allowed her to accomplish all this—and more—in only thirteen weeks.  

Lawson returned to the clinics the next semester, this time as a student advocate in the Appellate Clinic. There, she represented a habeas petitioner before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. After co-authoring a merits brief, Lawson presented an exceptional oral argument to a panel of three Circuit Judges in Richmond, Virginia in March. Her argument earned multiple compliments from the bench, and one career law clerk remarked that it was the best student argument she had ever seen, “by far.” On top of her principal case, Lawson volunteered to assist with an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of Missouri in a prominent civil-rights case. The process involved conducting multiple, lengthy, sensitive interviews with individuals and families impacted by the civil-rights issue and translating those real-world voices and experiences into a compelling brief. Throughout her time in the Appellate Clinic, Lawson consistently produced standout writing and embodied deft, client-centered lawyering.

CLEA Outstanding Externship Student: Sophia Carney

Sophia Carney was the very first WashU Law student to participate in an externship in the chambers of Rodney Holmes, who sits on the Eastern District of Missouri. Sophia was professional, attentive, and contributed substantive work in chambers that required few, if any, edits. Her writing and her questions were on point, always moving the report or order forward. Sophia set a standard of excellence and a commitment to learning, growing, and writing that has left a lasting impression on the externship and on Judge Holmes’ chambers. She solidified WashU Law’s relationship with Judge Holmes and created an avenue for future students to learn and grow in chambers for decades to come.