Texas Law Student Receives National Susman Godfrey Prize

Portrait of Circle Robie

Rising 2L Circle Robie has won a prestigious Susman Godfrey Prize. The honor, presented to only 12 law students annually, was announced this week by Susman Godfrey’s co-managing partners Kalpana Srinivasan and Vineet Bhatia.

“We are thrilled to recognize a group of incredibly talented and inspiring law students,” said Srinivasan. “And we hope this can continue to expand the pipeline of diverse lawyers interested in trial practice and civil litigation.”

The Susman Godfrey Prize, which comes with an award of $3,000 and an offer for a 2024 summer clerkship in a Susman Godfrey office, is presented to “students of color from around the country who have demonstrated academic excellence and overall achievement.”

This year’s winners come from a small handful of the nation’s best law schools, including Yale, Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia, in addition to Texas Law.

Robie is an exceptional choice for the highly competitive, select prize. Having just completed her first year at Texas Law, she is already a proven leader. She has been elected treasurer of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association for the coming year and will serve on the planning board of the school’s Thriving in Law School committee, a group responsible for a week of programming to support incoming 1Ls during Texas Law’s orientation activities.

Robie also has been selected as an international dean’s fellow for the 2026 incoming class and will join the Immigration Clinic at Texas Law this fall.

“I am overjoyed that Circle has won a Susman Godfrey Prize,” remarked Elizabeth Bangs, Texas Law’s dean of students, “but I’m also utterly unsurprised. Circle is a great student, a charismatic community member, and someone always brave enough to take a risk to achieve her goals. We are looking forward to having Circle serve in a newly created role next year, mentoring international JDs.

Those strong sentiments of support are why Bangs was quick to nominate Robie for the prize, in partnership with Associate Dean for Research Melissa Wasserman.

The award was launched in 2021 to increase the pipeline of diverse attorneys interested in civil trial litigation.

“I’m not afraid of being the first one to tackle tough problems and make a change,” said Robie when she started at Texas Law last August. “I’m sensitive to the needs and wants of marginalized people and communities because I was one, and I lived in one. I see them, and I care about them.”

A native of Chuzhou in China’s Anhui Province, Robie earned her bachelor’s degree in International Economic Law from Shanghai University. She then emigrated to the United States, in large part to fulfill her dream of attending law school and practicing law in America.

A first-generation college student, Robie has a particular drive and energy to succeed, especially in what is still, for her, a relatively new country.

I’m the kind of person who’s always curious about how things around me work,” said Robie. “Going to law school is my way of equipping my head and figuring out how this country runs. I want to acquire the capacity to integrate the multiple forms of knowledge and expertise needed to understand corporate America and be smarter every day!”

Robie – who also recently received the Baker Botts 2023 Diversity Fellowship and is spending this summer as an associate in the Baker Botts Austin office – is the third Texas Law student to win the Susman Godfrey Prize. Diana Kensy and Jason Onyediri, both Class of ‘23, were named winners last year.

Category: Law School News, Student Life
Tags: