Pellatz Named Winner of Federal Courts Prize

The inaugural Alan B. Johnson Prize has been awarded to third-year law student Magdalena Pellatz. The prize was established in 2023 to recognize the top student in the College of Law Federal Courts course and to honor Judge Alan Bond Johnson and his legacy of service to the United States and Wyoming.

Pellatz earned her undergraduate degree in social science from the University of Wyoming with a minor in interdisciplinary pre-law and emphasis on criminal justice, communication and journalism, political science and history. She is from Bill, a small ranching community in northeast Wyoming.

Judge Johnson has served on the state and federal benches in Wyoming for more than 50 years. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1961 and the UW College of Law in 1964, Judge Johnson served in the United States Air Force and Wyoming Air National Guard. He has served as a federal district court judge for the last 38 years and previously as a federal magistrate judge as a state district court judge.