Two Alumnae Clerking at U.S. Supreme Court This Term

Two University of Virginia School of Law alumnae are clerking at the U.S. Supreme Court for the 2018 term: Katie Barber ’15 for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Megan Lacy ’10 for Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Barber and Lacy are also a part of history this term: For the first time, more than half of the court’s clerks are women, and Kavanaugh’s first class of clerks are unprecedentedly all women.

Barber last worked as an associate at the law firm McGuireWoods in Richmond, Virginia. She previously clerked for Judge John B. Owens of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. At the Law School, she served on the board of the Public Interest Law Association, was a member of the Program in Law and Public Service, served as a Peer Advisor and was a notes editor for the Virginia Law Review. She earned her bachelor’s with distinction from UVA in 2011, double majoring in English and Spanish, with a minor in history.

Lacy last worked with White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II on Kavanaugh’s nomination and as senior adviser to the general counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department. She previously clerked for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Sidney Fitzwater of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She also worked as counsel to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a litigation associate at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C. She earned her bachelor’s from Hillsdale College in 2007.

UVA Law ranks No. 4 after Yale, Harvard and Stanford in placing clerks on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2005-18. A record 38 alumni are clerking for federal appeals court judges during this term, a typical precursor to clerking for the Supreme Court.

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