Fall 2026 Newland & Newland Single Parent Scholarship Winner

Lauren Leong

Congratulations to Lauren Leong, our Fall 2026 Single Parent Scholarship winner. Her story of loss and resilience has shaped her mission to make the legal system more accessible for single-parent families.

Read Their Essay Here:

When my Mom died, the first thought that crossed my mind was “I couldn’t save her.” I had flown in from studying abroad a few days prior because my sister had called and told me it was time to say goodbye. The day I landed back home was the last day she was able to speak, and two days later my mom took her last breath while my sisters and I slept on the floor at her bedside. At 21, I found myself parentless, and before I had even finished college. Instead of thinking about that loss, my mind kept repeating: “You couldn’t save her, you ran out of time.”

I found myself constantly going back to the thought of not being able to save her. It took me six months to even begin to understand what I meant by that thought. I am not disillusioned in a way that would allow me to believe I could save her from cancer, but I had long hoped that I would have been able to have made the process of dying more comfortable. Growing up it was always my Mom and me against the world, she knew my soul better than even I do and I knew who she was in a way I will never know anyone else so when she died I felt like I lost my biggest advocate and that I had let down her in being hers. I watched my Mom fight my entire life, long before the cancer and in the end all I wanted was to be able to go back in time to protect my Mom against some of the injustices that often come along with a cancer diagnosis in the U.S., especially when you are a single mother.

In the first few months — after my mother had been kicked out by my abusive stepfather and continuously misdiagnosed with a lesser diagnosis due to lack of belief by doctors of her pain — she lost her job from a company she had worked tirelessly for six years solely because she was having to miss a lot of workdays for various doctor appointments. I was 16 years old when that happened, and when legal action was suggested, my sisters and I did a quick Google and read about the at-will employment law in Kentucky and deemed it hopeless. As the cancer progressed, any legal concerns —whether that be possible malpractice or the wrongful termination — felt hopeless, exhausting, and too overwhelming to even begin to look into. At the time, I was working two jobs to scrape together any money I could to help my Mom before I left for college. Even now as I have worked in government employment law, civil legal aid, wrongful convictions, and impact litigation throughout my undergraduate years, I continually see the one truth which is: desperation often does not lend itself to have the energy for litigation. Almost everyone who pursues civil legal aid is exhausted and at their most vulnerable.

My first experience with the legal world was one where it felt entirely inaccessible, and I have dedicated my adult life to making sure that this is not others’ first experience with litigation. It is in pursuit of this passion that I am working tirelessly to become a lawyer who can fight for those similar single parent households which are often turned upside down by such things as a sudden loss of employment or threats to housing. This summer, I am working for the United States Merit Systems Protection Board with the goal of learning and understanding how to best advocate in the employment law space in a way that I have wanted to have since my Mom lost her job all those years ago. This passion extends to even my undergraduate career where I committed myself to learning about Civil Legal Aid and how litigation is and can be used for advocacy. In those four years, I have raised over 2.25 million dollars for causes related to legal aid through prospect development, grant writing, and targeted approaches for donors. I have learned in those roles how to advocate for what I thought would have once been beneficial to those in my Mother and I’s own struggle for legal relief with suggestions of improvement in those organizations, including its weak points in accessibility, and to know what areas need the most growth in funding. This dedication has become increasingly important as single parents only continually rise in prominence on a global scale.

It eats me alive to this day that my Mom died not knowing she was an excellent professional and although I can not bring my Mom back I truly believe my career and life is her legacy as much as it is mine. I am not the exhausted child working to help pay bills anymore. I have not forgotten the helpless feeling that surrounded my want to help protect my mother, but I no longer feel helpless. I am a young law student who worked hard to get into a top law school with the sole mission of making my Mother's legacy one of resilience and advocacy for relief of others where she got none. I have no intention of letting my Mother down. Through my work experience I have come to the conclusion that my story is not unique. I have seen first hand that I am on the more privileged side of those who have searched for legal aid, and that has only strengthened my desire to continue to work in legal advocacy. Ultimately, I know my mother was proud of me, but I do not know if she knew that I wear no title prouder than being her daughter, and I will work tirelessly to make that title what I know it should be.