Mare Lyons is a Legal Assistant in the New York office of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, a national law firm with offices in the District of Columbia, New York, California, and Tennessee. She received her B.A. in Legal History with highest distinction from the University of Virginia, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Her senior thesis, entitled “Scientific Authority and Its Limits: The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), Chiropractic Dissent and Public Trust in the Polio Era (1938-1955),” offered a lens into the profound and unresolved conflicts over claims of medical expertise and authority in 20^th century America. Through this work, Mare earned the Bernard Chamberlain prize for the history department’s best thesis. Outside of the classroom, she interned at Royer Caramanis law firm for two years and was elected as the History Department representative to the College Council. She also worked in various professor research partnerships, with a focus on 20^th century American legal challenges.

Mare hopes to attend law school in the future and is passionate about combining her interest in history with legal solutions.