ND Law’s Program on Law and Economics establishes new competition to select Law and Economics Student Fellows, names five students as inaugural Fellows
Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Law and Economics has established a new competition to select student fellows in law and economics for second and third year law students.
The inaugural cohort of Law and Economics Fellows for the 2024-25 year are Riley Connor, Josh Hill, Pavithra Rajendran, Cassandra Simmons, and Tri Truong. They will engage in specialized coursework, attend guest lectures, and participate in research opportunities focused on the intersection of law and economics, including conceptual, behavioral, experimental, and empirical approaches.
The fellowship aims to foster deeper intellectual engagement and enhance research capabilities in the field. The Law and Economics Fellows are selected among second year and third year law students and graduate students at Notre Dame Law School, as well as PhD candidates at Notre Dame, who have a strong interest in the economic analysis of law. The fellowship period lasts for one academic year and includes a $4,000 award.
“Our inaugural group of Law and Economics Student Fellows demonstrates the excellence of Notre Dame Law School’s student body. We look forward to increasing the number of competitive stipends we offer to students who wish to engage more deeply with law and economics in the coming years, as we continue growing the Notre Dame Program on Law and Economics,” said Avishalom Tor, professor of law and faculty director for the Program on Law and Economics.
Meet the 2024-25 Fellows
Riley Connor
Riley Connor is a second-year law student. She serves as the Mental Health Chair of the Student Bar Association and is involved in the Federalist Society. She received her bachelor of business administration in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. She is particularly interested in the economics of taxation law, with a focus on vertical and horizontal inequity within the U.S. system. She looks forward to exploring this topic during her time in the Law and Economics Student Fellowship Program.
Josh Hill
Josh Hill is a third-year law student. He has worked as a research assistant for Professor Bruce Huber, served as treasurer for the Christian Legal Society, and is the managing senior editor on Law Review. As a Law and Economics student fellow he is particularly interested in the way economics can help explain complex human phenomena and provide objective tools for analyzing weighty issues. Josh grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from Gordon College with a degree in finance and economics, and a minor in mathematics. After college he married his high school sweetheart, spent several years raising funds for surgeries for kids around the world, working on houses, and realizing a desire to practice law. Outside academia, he loves spending time with friends and family, working with his hands, and anything that gets him out into nature.
Pavithra Rajendran
Pavithra Rajendran is a second-year JSD student. She is a socio-legal academic, multi-faceted feminist, and first-generation lawyer. She completed her LL.B (Hons.) and first LL.M (General) at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, where she also served as a Lecturer in Public and International Laws from 2020-2023. In 2023, Pavithra earned her second LL.M in International Human Rights Law (cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame as a Fulbright awardee. Her LL.M thesis, developed under the supervision of Professor Christine Venter, received the Percy Buchanan Graduate Prize at the 72nd Annual Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs - 2023 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Currently, Pavithra is pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Notre Dame, where she holds several roles: PhD Fellow at the Kellogg Institute, Doctoral Affiliate at the Klau Institute, Graduate Justice Fellow at the Center for Social Concerns, and Doctoral Intern at the Global Human Rights Clinic. She is also an Elinor Ostrom Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and is the managing articles editor for the Notre Dame Journal of International and Comparative Law. Her research, published in reputable journals and book chapters, spans public and international law. As a Law and Economics Fellow, Pavithra explores how economic vulnerabilities create barriers for women victims of violence in accessing the criminal justice system and how economic empowerment can protect survivors, bridging the fields of law and economics with human rights.
Cassandra Simmons
Cassandra Simmons is a second-year law student. She is a staff editor on the Notre Dame Law Review and executive editor for 2024 Symposium Issue of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. During her 1L summer, Cassandra was a judicial intern for Justice John P. Devine of the Supreme Court of Texas. Originally from Austin, Texas, she attended Purdue University and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s degree in history. As a Law & Economics Student Fellow, she is interested in leveraging her background and interest in behavioral economics to gain insight into the legal implications of regulatory schemes, especially in terms of public versus private enforcement.
Tri Truong
Tri is a second-year law student. He serves as the president of the Intellectual Property Law Society and a staff editor for the Journal of Legislation. He graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and public policy studies and a certificate in policy journalism and media studies. His interest in the Law and Economics Student Fellowship came from his honor thesis in undergrad, where he researched the effects of the U.S.-China Trade War on Vietnam's economy. As a Student Fellow, he hopes to understand how economics can help inform the way we approach intellectual property law, specifically patent litigation.
Learn more about the Program on Law & Economics https://law.nd.edu/faculty-scholarship/interdisciplinary-studies/program-on-law-and-economics/.