Eleanor Jeffers ‘24 is currently obtaining her Juris Doctor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she is a member of the RISE (first generation and underrepresented students) 2027 Cohort and a member of the Trial Advocacy team. She was elected as the Managing Editor of Articles for Volume XL of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics (GJLE). Caleb Crary ‘22, also a Whitworth Honors alum, will serve as Volume XL’s Managing Editor of Notes. 

While at Whitworth, Eleanor majored in Philosophy with a minor in Ethics, graduating summa cum laude and with Honors. She spent the majority of her time competing in Ethics Bowl, which she credits with developing her research and extemporaneous speaking skills in preparation for a successful career as a litigator. She also participated in an Honors-sponsored project analyzing the historical and legal status of the Little Spokane River alongside Annaclare Spletztoeszer ‘24 and Alexis Dubreil ‘24 and under the instruction of Dr. Bert Emerson. The project aimed to rehabilitate the broken relationship between the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the broader Spokane community. Taking inspiration from that project, Eleanor elected to write her required Note (a legal analysis article) for GJLE on the same topic. Her Note (forthcoming, GJLE Volume XXXIX) argues that where judges find that a case was decided on a prejudicial omission of relevant evidence, they may overturn the result. 

Griffith v. Holman, decided in 1900 by the Washington Supreme Court, deemed the Little Spokane River non-navigable based on a finding that it had never been navigated for any essential purpose, a finding contradicted by evidence of the Tribe’s use of the Little Spokane. The Note uses Griffith as a test case for the ethical premise, proposing that the court’s omission of the Tribe’s use of the Little Spokane was wrongly prejudicial. Thus, the Note argues that Griffith was incorrectly decided, and that the Washington Supreme Court ought to overturn Griffith’s holding, restoring the Tribe’s access to the River and remedying over a century of injustice. Both the ethical argument pertaining to omissive prejudice and discussion of the ownership status of the Little Spokane are novel contributions to the field. 

Eleanor credits the Whitworth Philosophy and Honors departments majorly with her successes at Georgetown Law. In particular, she is deeply indebted to Dr. Joshue Orozco, Dr. Nathan King, Dr. Keith Wyma, and Dr. Forrest Baird (Philosophy), Dr. Mike Ingram (Ethics Bowl), and Dr. Bert Emerson (Honors).