Bolles senior Alaïa Jeannin ’27 has been named the first-place winner of this year’s Columbia Undergraduate Law Review’s High School Essay Contest, earning the competition’s top honor among more than 800 applicants in a record year for submissions.

Columbia selected just one first-place winner and one runner-up. Jeannin’s winning essay, "Between Sovereignty and Liberty: A Graduated Framework for Immigration Due Process and Judicial Review," addressed this year's contest theme of immigration, national sovereignty and the rights of non-citizens.

Students were asked to grapple with the tension between individual legal protections and governmental authority and to develop and defend an original legal argument using legal reasoning, historical or contemporary evidence and at least one court case or legal document, drawing where appropriate on federal and international law.

In announcing the award, Columbia Undergraduate Law Review editors said they were "amazed by the quality and thoughtfulness" of Jeannin’s submission. Her essay has been published on the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review website, and she has been invited to participate in a fall speaker event focused on due process and immigration law.

Congratulations, Alaïa! #BulldogProud