In a ceremony held in June, Judge John E. Fenton Jr. presented this year's Fenton Public Service Awards to four outstanding 2012 graduates of Suffolk University Law School: Andrew Cahill, Joanne Jacquet, Laura McWilliams, and Kellie Sanders. Throughout their law school careers and in their post-graduation career choices, this year's recipients have embodied Judge Fenton's passion for public service and his commitment to the standard of excellence.

Hosted by Suffolk University President James McCarthy, the ceremony featured remarks from Suffolk University Trustee Gerard F. Doherty, who led the fundraising efforts in 2003 to establish the awards. Judge Fenton regaled the recipients and their families with anecdotes and observations from his experience as a lawyer, judge, professor, and dean.

(Top row, from left to right: Judge John E. Fenton Jr.; Suffolk University Trustee Gerard F. Doherty; Suffolk University President James McCarthy; Rappaport Center Executive Director Gregory Massing. Bottom row, from left to right: Laura McWilliams; Joanne Jacquet; Andrew Cahill; Kellie Sanders.)

The John E. Fenton, Jr. Public Service Awards, administered by the Law School's Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service, serve to honor Judge Fenton's 45-year legacy of teaching and leadership at Suffolk University Law School and to continue the law school's longstanding commitment to the public sector and public interest law by encouraging outstanding Suffolk Law students to pursue public service careers. 

Each spring, awards of $8,000 each are given to three or four graduating students to pursue post-graduate employment with qualifying government and public interest employers. The Fenton Awards are the highest-paid public service awards given by the law school.

The goal of the Fenton Public Service Awards is to give graduating students the opportunity to pursue public service employment secure in the knowledge that their first-year salary will be supplemented by the Fenton Award. As a result, students committed to working in public service will not be forced to compromise their career choices solely due to financial pressures.