Caroline Drennen
June 14, 2022 – The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF) awarded Caroline Drennen a 2022-23 RMMLF Scholarship of $7,102 and a Mary A. Viviano Scholarship of $7,500 to assist with academic expenses and further her passion in energy and environmental law.
“The scholarships will go directly to my tuition, and that is a big relief,” Drennen said. “It means that I will be able to take out less in future loans and focus more on school instead of finances. That takes a lot of stress away.”
Drennen was selected by the RMMLF Foundation’s scholarship committee, board of directors and trustees based on leadership traits, academic excellence and extracurricular activities. She faced competition from 36 constituent law schools of the RMMLF.
In collaboration with the Foundation’s Scholar Development Program, Drennen was chosen alongside 37 scholarship recipients to attend an annual three-day natural resources conference focused on varied environmental topics prompting networking and new avenues of communication as well as an opportunity to gain insight from industry professionals and law experts at informative presentations and discussions offered in multiple locations across the United States.
“For 3L, I am going to be president of the Energy and Environmental Law Society, and we have our first-ever all-woman board, which is pretty exciting,” Drennen said. “I am pumped to plan the events for that and get to know more students as things move in person with our new building.”
The middle of five children, Drennen’s older brother is a practicing Houston attorney, and “When I decided to go into law, I knew to stay in Houston because of the business and legal opportunities offered by the school and the city,” Drennen stated. “Big firms, small offices, internships, scholarships … it’s all right here.”
UH Law Center has proven to have not only excellent legal educators strengthened by hands-on projects and various face-to-face activities, but a close network of alumni and business contacts upon graduation that is incomparable.
Drennen is currently the community outreach editor for the Houston Law Review and a summer associate at Sidley Austin LLP in the Houston office, gaining experience in contract drafting, business organization, project development and legal research in the energy capital of the world.
“Broadly, I’ll be working on transactional matters at Sidley, but I’m hoping to focus on energy and environmental work – particularly in the project development and infrastructure space,” Drennen noted.
