WVU College of Law Class of 2020
By Maggie Hatfield
Although she is originally from Virginia Beach, VA, Amanda Demmerle’s time at the West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law felt like home. She graduated first in her class this spring, receiving Order of the Coif honors and the public interest distinction.
“The most special part of the WVU College of Law was the feeling of community,” she says. “I know that by coming to this state and this school, I was afforded opportunities I would not have received elsewhere.”
Demmerle attended the University of Virginia for her undergraduate degree, majoring in both environmental sciences and environmental thought and practice. While she initially grappled with the decision to attend law school, she received a full tuition scholarship to WVU and decided to pursue her passion for the environment.
She credits Professor Jamie Van Nostrand for furthering her pursuit of environmental law.
“During my 1L and 2L years, I helped write the bench brief for the National Energy & Sustainability Moot Court Competition,” she says. “During my 3L year, Professor Van Nostrand trusted me to write both the problem and the bench brief for the competition. I studied environmental law concepts I would not have otherwise learned while at WVU because of Professor Van Nostrand and the competitions.”
The problem from the 2019 competition inspired Demmerle to write her law review note, “Pain in the Ash,” which was published last year and received a Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing. During law school, she also served as the senior managing editor of the West Virginia Law Review and a student clinician in the WVU Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic.
Demmerle is currently working for the Honorable Judge Robert King on the Fourth Circuit as one of his term law clerks and will clerk for the Honorable Judge Frank Volk in the Southern District of West Virginia immediately after.
