“I came to law school with a mission and goal of advocating for women’s rights, so this award means a great deal to me as it stands for exactly what I believe: that gender justice is as much about championing your peers and colleagues as it is about advocating for women in society writ large. After graduation, I will work as a Skadden Fellow at Children’s Law Center in Washington, DC, where I will expand a pediatric medical-legal partnership to safeguard low-income families from public benefits loss and health care instability. This work is deeply connected to gender justice because public benefits challenges uniquely and disproportionately affect women, especially single mothers, who are often simultaneously their family’s primary caregivers and breadwinners.”

– Megan Hess, on receiving the 2026 NAWL Outstanding Law Student Award for the University of Michigan Law School.