“This award was an incredible honor, particularly because I credit my fantastic experience in law school to amazing women in my class who helped me study and care for my son after I gave birth during my 2L year. William & Mary hosts an outstanding group of professors; many of whom are women lawyers I hope to model my career after. I will sit for the Virginia Bar in July and join the Honorable Rebecca Beach Smith's chambers as a term clerk in the Eastern District of Virginia in September.”

– Kate Franco, on receiving the 2026 NAWL Outstanding Law Student Award for William & Mary Law School.