Alumna Named Bristow Fellow

Mariette Peltier, a 2020 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, will serve as one of five Bristow Fellows in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice starting this summer.

As a Bristow Fellow, Peltier will help attorneys draft briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases and prepare for oral arguments there. Fellows, who serve for one year, also make recommendations to the solicitor general about government appeals in lower federal courts. The fellowships are highly competitive and are often steppingstones to clerkships at the Supreme Court.

Peltier is currently clerking for U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California. (Chhabria is also a UVA Law lecturer.) She previously clerked for Judge Julius Richardson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She begins her fellowship in July.

“I am honored and excited to work for some of the best appellate lawyers in the country, even more so because that work will take place in the public sector,” she said. “In the long term, I hope to work in federal government.”

Peltier said she would not have applied for or received the fellowship without the support and encouragement of her judges and UVA Law professors.

“This is as much their accomplishment as my own,” she added. “I credit my clerkships with teaching me to write clearly and concisely so that the law is accessible to more than just lawyers. And my time at UVA highlighted the importance of collaborating with others who share different viewpoints to puzzle through complicated issues.”

At UVA Law, Peltier earned the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence by graduating with the highest GPA in the Class of 2020. She assisted on a pro bono project concerning Virginia’s sexual assault laws and served as an executive editor of the Virginia Law Review, and was also a fellow in the Program in Law and Public Service. The Claire Corcoran Award recipient worked for the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Peltier also externed for the Office of the University Counsel at UVA.

Peltier, who hails from Houston, graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in business administration (majoring in the Business Honors Program and supply chain management) and psychology.