Alumni of the Year: Abbie VanSickle ‘11 (Vol. 98)

Abbie VanSickle writes about the Supreme Court for The New York Times with a focus on the world of the court, including its role in politics and the lives of the justices. She came to The Times from The Marshall Project, where she was the lead reporter on a yearlong investigation into the injuries caused by police dog bites that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting. She was a finalist in 2019 and 2021 for Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. She has also worked as a journalist for the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, the Center for Investigative Reporting and The Tampa Bay Times. From 2011 to 2012, she was a Henry Luce Scholar in Cambodia. She was born and raised outside a small town in Indiana and earned her undergraduate degree in journalism from Northwestern University before attending the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Many of Abbie’s articles have fueled critical debates at Berkeley Law and beyond. We especially admire her coverage of the Supreme Court over the last year and the ethical questions it confronts. Abbie’s career in journalism serves as an incredible example of how CLR students can engage with the legal field after graduation.