Established in 2021 by the Hon. Christy C. Wiegand ’00 and her husband, John F. (Jay) Hammond ’00, the Hon. Christy C. Wiegand Government Service Scholarship will be awarded annually to a 2L or 3L student who pursues government service legal work during law school, with aspirations to continue doing so post-graduation.

Judge Wiegand credits her meaningful experience at Cornell Law School as the springboard for her career. With this scholarship, Judge Wiegand and her husband, John F. (Jay) Hammond ’00, hope to reduce the amount of student debt that scholarship recipients will be obliged to repay following graduation from Cornell Law School, making government service a more reasonable financial choice. In addition, Christy and Jay intend the Scholarship to encourage Cornell Law students to reflect on the variety of post-graduation paths open to them by highlighting Judge Wiegand’s experience as an example of a meaningful and fulling career in government service.

During her time at the Law School, Wiegand served as an articles editor for the Cornell Law Review. Upon graduation, she became an associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where her practice focused on antitrust matters. She later served as a law clerk to Judge D. Brooks Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Wiegand then became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, where she spent eighteen years working for the U.S. Department of Justice. In September 2020, she was appointed to serve as a U.S. District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Hammond’s legal career has been as a transactional attorney, largely focused on energy and corporate law. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the head coach of the Central Catholic High School rowing team.