Graduate 3L Son Nguyen is the 2025 recipient of the Morgan Taylor Spirit of Service Award, presented to a graduating student who contributes time and energy to making the Maine Law community a better place through involvement in student organizations, community groups, and individual efforts. The award is named in honor of Captain Morgan Taylor ‘19 who passed tragically in an automobile accident in 2022.
Nguyen immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam when he was 16, finishing out his high school career in the San Francisco Bay Area. Two years later, at 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“When I enlisted, I swore an oath to support and defend the constitution without having a comprehensive understanding of all that entailed. I thought I was going to serve the best country in the world,” Nguyen said. “Throughout my time in the military, I was confronted with a lot of the realities of systemic racism in America. I realized I didn’t understand the country and the people I’d sworn to defend.”
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Nguyen began to educate himself about the complexities and nuances of American society, chapters of history he’d largely missed because of his late admission to the American educational system. He found himself particularly drawn to the Civil Rights Movement and the more recent epidemic of mass incarceration across the country. When his contract with the Marine Corps was up, Nguyen elected to continue this education in a more formal capacity, attending the University of Texas at Austin where he studied history and politics.
“I was excited to take the classes that everyone else resented having to take,” Nguyen recalled. “Because of earned credit in the military, I could have skipped a lot of the introductory classes, but I didn’t want to. I wanted American Government 101, Intro to American History.”
During and after his undergraduate education, Nguyen worked in partisan politics, getting first-hand experience in the political system that captivated him for years. He soon realized, however, that what interested him was the underpinnings of this system, understanding how it all works and also, thereby, understanding how to effect substantive change.
This is the realization that steered him to Maine Law where he jumped headfirst into his studies and fomenting positive changes in the state.
“When I first started at Maine Law, the indigent defense crisis was front and center in many discussions,” Nguyen continued. “Two weeks into law school, as 1Ls, we were already discussing how to move the needle on that issue.”
Those discussions eventually led to the formation of the group Students for the Sixth Amendment, which advocates for the constitutional right to counsel for all. Nguyen said his interest in indigent defense as well as labor and civil rights law guided his law school career.
He also took advantage of a wide array of internship opportunities, completing internships at IDEXX, Bernstein Shur, the Maine Service Employee Association labor union, and the Maine Indigent Defense Center.
As driven as Nguyen was by his academic and professional pursuits, he said he was equally inspired by his peers. He now feels a deep responsibility not just to understand the country and communities to which he belongs, but a calling to try to improve them as well. And this, Nguyen realized over the course of his Maine Law career, can only be accomplished through partnership with others.
“That relationship with my peers isn’t about competition or networking, it’s about building trust and respect,” Nguyen added. “From what I understand, those values were important to Morgan as well. I am honored to carry on that small part of her legacy.”
