Vanderbilt Law student wins Farmer & Morris volunteer scholarship

Vanderbilt Law School student Amanda Li has received the 2025 Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, Volunteer Service Scholarship, a $2,500 award for law students with community volunteer experience. Li says the support will help her continue her legal education as she pursues a career in corporate law.

Why it matters: - The $2,500 scholarship helps fund legal education for a student who has paired academic work with community-focused advocacy. - Farmer & Morris has awarded the Volunteer Service Scholarship annually since 2021, making the program a recurring source of support for future lawyers. - Li’s experience shows how legal training can intersect with public-interest advocacy, even for students headed into corporate practice.

What happened: - Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, named Vanderbilt Law School student Amanda Li the winner of the 2025 Volunteer Service Scholarship. - The scholarship recognizes a law student or applicant who has performed volunteer work in their community. - The firm awards the scholarship annually. - Li said the scholarship will be “a meaningful source of support” for her legal education.

The details: - Li’s essay focused on her father’s detention in China in April 2024 while he was on a business trip. - Weeks later, Li said her father suffered a stroke in detention. - Li and her mother were denied access to his medical records, legal counsel and basic updates on his condition. - Li said she became the financial head of her household, her father’s advocate and her family’s link to a system that offered silence instead of answers. - While balancing her first year of law school, Li researched extradition law, drafted letters to embassies and coordinated with human rights groups including the Dui Hua Foundation. - Li also reached out to journalists and brought her father’s story to The New York Times. - Li said that visibility turned her family’s isolation into advocacy and gave her father dignity. - Li said her father’s experience strengthened her commitment to a legal career grounded in integrity and purpose. - Li said her father’s resilience reminds her why the rule of law matters and why advocacy matters for people who cannot advocate for themselves. - Li is focused on corporate law, especially asset management and mergers and acquisitions. - Her coursework has covered corporate finance, transactional structuring and regulatory considerations. - Li plans to pursue BigLaw after graduation. - Li wants to deepen her understanding of the business side of legal practice. - Li hopes to combine legal expertise with commercial awareness in complex, high-stakes transactions.

Between the lines: - The scholarship spotlights a student whose volunteer-driven response to a family crisis extended well beyond campus life. - Farmer & Morris is using scholarship funding to reinforce a public image tied to community service and legal access. - Li’s path suggests that public-interest experience can coexist with a corporate-law career track.

What's next: - Li will continue her legal education at Vanderbilt Law School. - After graduation, Li intends to start her career in BigLaw. - Farmer & Morris will keep awarding the scholarship annually to current law students or applicants who reflect the spirit of volunteerism. - The firm says it is based in North and South Carolina and serves clients across injury, disability and other practice areas.

The bottom line: - The scholarship gives Amanda Li financial support now and highlights how one student turned a family crisis into legal advocacy and a clear professional direction.