Four Students Receive 2024 Susman Godfrey Prize

Yale Law School students Deja Morehead ’25, Sharon Nunn ’25, Jeremy Thomas ’26, and Ruth Tomlin ’26 have received the 2024 Susman Godfrey Prize, the firm announced on May 10. The prize is awarded annually to students of color who have demonstrated academic excellence and overall achievement.

The four students are among 20 winners from across the country who each receive a prize of $3,500 and ongoing mentorship from Susman Godfrey’s partners and associates. 

Students were nominated by law school professors or administrators and evaluated based on their resumes, transcripts, and letters of recommendation. After being narrowed down to a group of finalists, winners were selected after interviews by a team of lawyers from the firm.

“We’re honored to continue the Susman Godfrey Prize program for a fourth year,” said co-Managing Partner Vineet Bhatia. “We hope it continues to encourage diverse lawyers to pursue careers in civil litigation.”

Susman Godfrey launched the prize in 2021 as part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to enhance diversity in the legal profession. This year, the firm expanded the program to recognize 20 recipients from 12 recipients in years past. 

Deja Morehead ’25

Morehead is the managing editor of the Yale Law Journal and a Chae Fellow of the Chae Initiative in Private Sector Leadership. She has served in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic and on the Yale Law Women+ Top Firms Committee. She earned her A.B. in economics from Harvard University where she graduated magna cum laude and was a John Harvard Scholar.

Sharon Nunn ’25

Nunn is a features and book reviews editor on the Yale Law Journal and lead editor on the Yale Journal on Regulation. She has served as both a teaching and research assistant and is a high school tutor for the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. Prior to law school, Nunn was a journalist. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in media and journalism.

Jeremy Thomas ’26

Thomas is lead editor for the Yale Law and Policy Review, academic co-chair for the Black Law Students Association, a research assistant, and a volunteer for New Haven Reads. He received a B.A. in English and jurisprudence from Amherst College, where he graduated magna cum laude with distinction, and earned two master’s degrees in English and U.S. history from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Ruth Tomlin ’26

Tomlin is an editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation, a member of the Black Law Students Association, and a member of the Mental Health Justice Clinic. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in philosophy and economics.