Avery Rasmussen ’21, a student at the University of Virginia School of Law, will clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the 2023 term.
The Law School is fourth after Yale, Harvard and Stanford in the number of graduates clerking on the U.S. Supreme Court since 2005.
After law school, Rasmussen first will clerk for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72 of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2021 term and Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for the 2022 term.
“I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to work for three exceptional jurists and mentors,” she said. “I admire each of their approaches to the law, and I have a lot to learn from them. I’m especially looking forward to experiencing all three levels of federal court.”
The Pensacola, Florida, native and Karsh-Dillard Scholar is articles development editor of the Virginia Law Review, a William Minor Lile Moot Court Competition semifinalist and a Supreme Court Litigation Clinic participant. Rasmussen is a member of the Raven Society and received the Carl M. Franklin Prize for having the highest GPA after two semesters. She has also been a research assistant for Professors A. E. Dick Howard ’61 and Saikrishna Prakash, and interned for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2019.
Along with Howard and Prakash, Rasmussen also credits Professors Barbara Armacost ’89, Aditya Bamzai, Anne Coughlin and Caleb Nelson, and former Professor Molly Brady for contributing to her success.
“I attribute these opportunities to the incredible professors and student community at UVA Law,” she said. “My mentors on the faculty here have always encouraged my curiosities and pushed me to aim high. And I can’t overstate how grateful I am for my classmates, who are always so supportive of one another.”
Rasmussen earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce and political philosophy, policy, and law from UVA.
Howard said Rasmussen was a star in his Supreme Court seminar as an undergraduate, adding that she and the Law School “have been a perfect fit for each other.”
“Avery has prospered, proving at every step of the way that she has an admirable combination of innate intelligence, an uncanny ability to organize her time, a sense of purpose, and a calm and steady demeanor,” Howard said.
A record number of UVA Law alumni clerked in courts across the nation during the 2019 term, including Jessica Wagner ’15, who clerked for Justice Samuel Alito. For the 2020 term, Maria Monaghan ’17 will clerk for Alito, and Daniel Richardson ’18 will clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer.
Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. Consistently ranked among the top law schools, Virginia is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants, instilling in them a commitment to leadership, integrity and community service.
