MACON – University graduate Jennifer L. Roberts of Macon received the George Waldo Woodruff Award of Excellence at Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law commencement ceremony in May.
The award is presented annually in honor of Woodruff, distinguished businessman, proponent of education and friend of the Law School. It is given to the graduate having the highest cumulative academic average.
Transferring to the Walter F. George School of Law after completing her first year at Saint Louis University School of Law, Roberts was the recipient of the Mercer University School of Law Merit Scholarship and the Mary Bell Scholarship. Number one in a class of 144, she was named to the dean’s list for each semester, participated in the Wagner Moot Court Competition in New York City, earned the Faculty Legal Writing Award and served as a student mentor.
From August to November 2001, Roberts worked as a law clerk for the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office. She also served as a law clerk for Sell & Melton, L.L.P, Macon, from June to August in 2001.
Receiving the Distinguished Faculty Award, an award selected by the law students, was James P. Fleissner, professor at the Walter F. George School of Law. Fleissner teaches trial practice, criminal law, evidence and other criminal and trial practice-related courses. He has written several articles in the area of trial practice and and criminal law, has testified before the U.S. Congress on proposed anti-terrorism legislation and has appeared as a legal analyst on both local and national television programs, including Jim Lehrer’s NewsHour. He also has served as the faculty coach for moot court teams, has worked with laws students in briefing appeals on behalf of indigent defendants in cases assigned by the U.S. Court of Appeals and has helped to form the Mercer Association of Prosecutors.
Founded in 1833, Mercer is a 7,300-student, comprehensive, Baptist-affiliated university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees through the College of Liberal Arts, the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, the Tift College of Education, the School of Engineering, the Walter F. George School of Law, the School of Medicine, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, the Southern School of Pharmacy and the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology.
Mercer University has campuses in Macon and Atlanta, as well as four extended education centers located in Douglas County, Covington, Griffin and Eastman. The University also operates the Mercer Engineering Research Center in Warner Robins and the Mercer University Press in Macon. For the past 12 years, Mercer has been ranked among the leading universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report.
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