Meet this year’s William & Mary Law School McGlothlin Scholars
Isabelle Auble, Francesca Ferraro and Alexander Meintzer arrived at William & Mary Law School by very different routes: a biology lab in South Carolina, a litigation boutique in New York, and a government classroom at William & Mary. This fall, during their final year of law school, the three students are keeping more than busy as citizen lawyers and McGlothlin Scholars.
The scholarship program is funded by James W. McGlothlin ’62, J.D. ’64, LL.D. ’00 (who passed away in August 2025) and his wife, Frances G. McGlothlin ’66, L.H.D. ’18. Their endowment is designed to help William & Mary Law School and the Mason School of Business recruit students of compelling ability who demonstrate exceptional promise, curiosity and leadership as they prepare to lead in their fields.
The McGlothlins also established the McGlothlin Leadership Forum in 2011, a joint initiative of the business and law schools that brings global leaders to campus each year to engage students on questions where business, law and public policy meet.
Isabelle Auble: From the lab to life sciences law
Isabelle Auble’s path to law began in a laboratory. The Cary, North Carolina, native graduated cum laude with leadership distinction in research from the University of South Carolina, where she studied biology and researched sustainable energy conversion and the genetics of aging. That sparked her interest in life sciences and healthcare law. This past summer she worked as a summer associate at Reed Smith LLP on life sciences regulatory and healthcare litigation matters, following experience with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office and the Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia.
Auble’s second passion is personal. Her brother, George, has Down syndrome, and she tutored children with Down syndrome in literacy through GiGi’s Playhouse. This semester she joins the Special Education Advocacy Clinic, and she is Lead Notes Editor of the William & Mary Law Review. Auble hopes to become a citizen lawyer who advances life sciences innovation while advocating for people with disabilities.
Francesca Ferraro: A philosopher bound for corporate practice
Francesca Ferraro, of Montvale, New Jersey, brings a liberal arts background and real-world experience to the law. She graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University in May 2022, studying philosophy, political science and French.
After college, Ferraro worked for a boutique litigation firm in New York and for a medical nonprofit before enrolling at William & Mary. Her time in Williamsburg has included service beyond the classroom: she has volunteered at Matthew Whaley Elementary School and served as a Student Support Fellow with the law school’s Academic Success Program, helping fellow students succeed. She is also a staff member of the William & Mary Law Review. Her next step is already set. Ferraro will join Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as a corporate associate next fall.
Alexander Meintzer: Drawn to litigation
For Alexander Meintzer of New Canaan, Connecticut, William & Mary is familiar ground. He graduated summa cum laude from the university in 2024 with a major in government and a minor in history, and studied abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland along the way.
Meintzer is drawn to litigation because he reveres the rule of law, and he has spent much of law school watching it work up close. He was a state-court judicial intern for The Honorable Holly B. Smith in the Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court in summer 2025 and a federal court judicial extern for The Honorable John A. Gibney at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia that fall. This past summer, he worked as a summer associate at Kirkland & Ellis in New York City. He says he is looking forward to a rewarding and challenging final year.
Looking ahead
Their interests span healthcare regulation, courtroom advocacy and corporate transactions. Just as important, this year’s McGlothlin Scholars share the qualities that Jim and Fran McGlothlin set out to support: academic distinction, a willingness to serve others and ambitions that reach well beyond William & Mary. As they finish their 3L year, each student is already building the kind of career the program was created to launch.