Hannah Young, a 3L who is this year’s clerk for Texas Law’s prestigious Chancellors honor society, has been selected as the 2025 Fifth Circuit Distinguished Bankruptcy Law Student. Young will accept the award at the annual meeting of the American College of Bankruptcy in Washington, D.C. March 20-22, 2025.
The Distinguished Bankruptcy Law Student Award was established to identify and promote prospective leaders in the insolvency and bankruptcy profession. Criteria for the award include academic excellence, professional accomplishments in bankruptcy or restructuring-related courses, law school endeavors that relate to insolvency issues, a passion for or intent to practice in the restructuring and insolvency area, and commitment to public service and pro bono efforts.
One student selected by the American College of Bankruptcy from each U.S. circuit court district is invited to participate in the honorary public service association’s spring meeting, which includes educational sessions and a black-tie induction ceremony for new fellows. Students will have the opportunity to meet distinguished judges, practitioners, and other insolvency professionals.
Young’s upcoming trip to the U.S. capital is being fully funded by the American College of Bankruptcy.
This is the third time in four years that the Fifth Circuit Distinguished Bankruptcy Law Student Award has been awarded to a Texas Law student; previous winners were Adam Schmidt ’23 and Abigail Emery ’22.
Bankruptcy Interest ‘Flourished’
Young took Professor Angela Littwin’s Bankruptcy course last fall, and in that class her “interest in bankruptcy law really flourished,” Young says.
Young previously held a summer internship at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a firm with a large financial restructuring practice. After being brought in on several bankruptcy cases on the litigation side, she took a liking to the work. “I was extremely excited to get the opportunity to help the ‘little guys’ while working in Big Law,” she says.
That’s when she signed up for Littwin’s course, and the professor quickly recognized Young’s aptitude for bankruptcy law.
In her award nomination letter, Littwin wrote that the two “had bankruptcy conversations of the caliber I usually have with my colleagues, not my students,” Littwin wrote. “When she told me that she was planning to become a bankruptcy litigator after law school, I was thrilled.”
Littwin also noticed Young’s passion for bankruptcy policy. “During class policy discussions, she developed creative yet practical ideas for making the consumer bankruptcy system more effective and the business bankruptcy system more efficient and fairer,” she wrote.
Young often posed in-class questions that “got directly to the heart of the matter, took the discussion to the next level, or got me to think through angles I had not previously considered,” wrote Littwin.
Texas Law Foundation
A native of Dallas, Young earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southwestern University.
At Texas Law, in addition to her role as a Chancellor, Young has spent three semesters working with the Children’s Rights Clinic. Young also is a Dean’s Fellow with the society program and staff editor for the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. Last spring, she served as a research assistant for Professor Tara Grove and as an academic assistant for Professor Wendy Wagner.
She will be clerking for Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd during the 2025-2026 term before joining the Dallas office of Akin Gump in fall of 2026.
As she embarks upon her next chapter, Young recognizes the foundation she has gained at Texas Law. “Beyond thoroughly teaching me how to think like a lawyer, Texas Law has given me many experiences that have fostered confidence in myself as an advocate and a professional” she says.