MSP 3L and scholarship recipient Starr Vega, '23 with MSP alumna Hon. Esther Salas, '94
Rutgers Law third-year student Starr Vega is the first recipient of the Daniel Anderl Memorial Scholarship. The $5,500 award is part of a larger endowment created in Anderl’s memory. The son of Hon. Esther Salas (RLAW ’94), an MSP Newark alumna, was murdered by a disgruntled attorney in 2020 at their home in North Brunswick. Anderl was 20 years old and planned for a career in law. His father, Mark, was shot and wounded in the attack.
The scholarship award will alternate each year between Rutgers Law campuses. A Camden student will receive the award next year. Funded on an endowed basis, the scholarship will assist generations of future students.
“Out of this senseless tragedy, we see light and we see this ability for students to go on and get an education in memory of my son,” said Judge Salas in an episode of the Rutgers Law Power of Attorney podcast (link below). “Daniel’s senseless murder made sense of his life because Daniel lived every day like it was his last day. He enjoyed life.”
Vega is currently the Senior Notes & Comments Editor for the Rutgers University Law Review. She also served as a Student Liaison to the New Jersey Association of the Federal Bar and an MSP Teaching Fellow. In addition, she will join Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi in September 2023 following graduation.
Judge Salas became the first Hispanic magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court in New Jersey in 2006. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed to her current position in 2011. Both the Judge and Vega received bachelor’s degrees from Rutgers in New Brunswick.
Daniel Anderl
The endowment is made possible by many New Jersey lawyer co-sponsoring associations and their members: Rutgers Law School-Newark Alumni Association, American College of Trial Lawyers-New Jersey State Committee, The Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, WIN: Women in IP Network, Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, and the Historical Society of the U.S. District Court of N.J.
Three other fully endowed scholarships have been established at Anderl’s former grammar and high schools in New Jersey and at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. where he finished his sophomore year at the time of his passing. More scholarships are planned.