Kathleen Hagerty, Sprague award winner with Alexander Sprague and Dean John Corkery.
Kathleen Hagerty, a January 2011 graduate of The John Marshall Law School who has been working as a victim witness specialist for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, is the recipient of the Lucy Sprague Public Service Scholarship.
The award was presented by Alexander Sprague at the law school’s May 22, 2011, commencement exercises. The $25,000 Sprague scholarship was established in 1998 in memory of Lucy Sprague who was a second-year law student at John Marshall when she was murdered in her apartment in December 1996. Her parents, Lee and the Honorable George R. Sprague, now retired from the Cambridge, Mass., District Court; brother, Alexander; and sister, Cynthia, established the scholarship to assist another student interested, as Lucy was, in a profession in
public interest law.
The award will assist Hagerty in paying off her law school loans.
For the past six years, Hagerty has been working full-time as a victim witness specialist, acting as a liaison between the crime victims and the assistant state’s attorneys who are prosecuting the cases. After graduating from John Carroll University in 2005 with a degree in Spanish and communications, Hagerty took the victim witness specialist position in the Felony Trial Division. She worked there for nearly two years before transferring to the Traffic Division where she often spends time working with families, some of whom have lost loved ones in traffic accidents
caused by drunk drivers.
“I’ve had the opportunity to assist domestic violence victims in obtaining orders of protection. I’ve assisted family members of murder victims from the bond hearing on the case all the way through sentencing,” Hagerty told the Sprague family. “I’ve learned how difficult it can be for victims to appear in court each month and how all victims react differently to various events that come with being involved in a criminal case.
“I decided to go to law school to become a prosecutor after just a few months of assisting victims at the 3rd District Rolling Meadows Courthouse,” she said. Hagerty attended The John Marshall Law School as an evening student. She didn’t want to give up her full-time position “because I am passionate about my work as a victim witness specialist.”
Hagerty graduated in the top 10 in her class. Despite her busy schedule, she was active with the Trial Advocacy and Dispute Resolution Honors Council. She represented John Marshall and her team was a semi-finalist in the American Association of Justice Student Trial Advocacy Competition in 2009. She participated in the Comparative Trial Advocacy Program in Dublin, Ireland in 2010. In addition, Hagerty was the evening student representative for the Student Bar Association.
Now Hagerty will being taking her special skills learned on the job, and her legal knowledge from law school into the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.