Liberty Law student wins Corporate Counsel Award from Virginia State Bar
March 18, 2026 : By Abigail Degnan - Office of Communications & Public Engagement
Liberty University School of Law 3L Natalie Durham has received The Corporate Counsel Award from the Virginia State Bar’s Corporate Counsel Section for her essay on how to improve the practice of law in Virginia.
Durham’s essay focused on developing apps and workflows utilizing AI to help customize client organization and case management systems. While most law practices use large, popular platforms like Clio, MyCase, and Practice Panther and must build their practice around the platform, Durham proposes a way to make the platform adjust its settings to the practice by creating workflow systems that better match how the business functions.
“To me, the future of law in Virginia will belong to lawyers who can translate between legal reasoning and technical execution,” Durham wrote in her essay. “By building tailored workflows for in-house teams, I want to help Virginia companies operate with less friction, fewer bottlenecks, and more transparency. The goal isn’t to replace the human side of law; it’s to give lawyers tools that let them practice it better.”
As part of the award, Durham will receive $3,000 to help defray early career expenses like application fees, bar prep courses, and first-year bar dues as she graduates and enters her legal career.
“I will not be working over the summer months while I prep for the bar, so this award took a weight off my shoulders I don’t think I fully appreciated before being awarded,” she said. “I am very grateful for the award, and it will definitely make navigating the bar process easier.”
Durham, who plans to stay in Virginia and practice locally, said her essay reflects Liberty’s own values.
“Liberty’s mission emphasizes preparing students to pursue excellence in their professions while serving others with integrity and a commitment to Christian principles,” she said. “For me, that means approaching the practice of law not only as a career but also as an opportunity to serve people during important and often strife-filled moments in their lives. Improving how law firms operate ultimately benefits clients by making legal services more organized and therefore more accessible. In that sense, striving to improve the profession is one small way of pursuing the kind of service-oriented leadership that Liberty instills in its students.”
