Sarah Elizabeth Parsons Named 2025 Lucy Sprague Public Service Award Recipient
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Sarah Elizabeth Parsons (3L) has received a $25,000 scholarship from long-time law school supporters and donors, the Sprague family, as the new Lucy Sprague Public Service Award recipient to continue research and advocacy in Public Interest Law.
With a deep-rooted passion for social justice and a commitment to advocating for survivors of domestic violence and sex crimes, Parsons has made it her mission to advocate for survivors of injustice.
“Advocating for survivors of domestic violence and sex crimes was one of my main goals for going to law school and wanting to start my career at the State’s Attorney’s Office. I wanted to get my hands dirty and face the injustices with the people in mind first,” Parsons said regarding her dreams of becoming a prosecutor for victims of sex crimes.
Parsons’ work as a Victim Advocate and Social Worker, as well as her own testimony of survival, made her journey into the legal field both personal and professional. Utilizing her master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from Loyola University, Parsons worked closely with many individuals who fought barriers to receiving their share of justice. She understood firsthand how the legal system can retraumatize victims and used her personal story to publicly create legislative change within Illinois, thus increasing transparency for rape kit tracking and giving survivors greater agency in the criminal justice process.
As a law student, Parsons began to tailor her legal experiences in support of victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, felony sex crimes, and immigration law, noting that the court system is still “kind of archaic” when it comes to gender-based violence, particularly with marginalized communities.
Parsons gained hands-on training working with a wide range of individuals—from incarcerated persons in Cook County Jail to homeless mothers in drug recovery—all of which have shaped her belief that every person, regardless of background or circumstance, deserves to be heard and treated with respect. Whether supporting a victim with schizophrenia navigating court proceedings or advocating for survivors overlooked by the justice system, Parsons learned that presence, empathy, and a trauma-informed approach can make a powerful difference.
As a recipient of the Lucy Sprague Public Interest Scholarship, Parsons plans to continue building on her passion projects while also exploring other intersectionality’s of the law. She credits the UIC Law community for helping to broaden her horizons in the legal space.
“There’s been a lot of professors and students that I have been able to learn from, and I would say that is the biggest part of my education…not just learning the black letter law, but peoples experience within the law and how certain communities are participating or not participating,” she said.
Pending bar passage, Parsons has accepted an offer at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office post commencement. In addition to her passion projects, Parsons also plans to delve deeper into what Lucy Sprague was trying to accomplish with goals in public interest in hopes that she can keep that legacy alive as a future lawyer, prosecutor, and public servant.