Sara MacNeil will receive $2,500 to continue her education at the University of New Mexico School of Law.

COLUMBUS, OH / ACCESS Newswire / January 19, 2026 / The scholarship selection committee with Meyer Wilson Werning proudly awards its 2025 The Importance of Personal Finance Education Scholarship to Sara MacNeil. MacNeil is a law student at the University of New Mexico's School of Law who hopes to translate her hard-won lessons about financial literacy into advocacy for victims of abuse and people in marginalized communities.

When asked about the forces that taught her about financial literacy, MacNeil is quick to champion her mother. Her scholarship essay goes into detail about a life lived under her mother's tutelage, emphasizing the value of bargains that balanced a need for frugality and control with opportunities to enjoy little luxuries.

However, MacNeil notes that her primary lessons in financial literacy were not found in the clearance aisle but rather in opportunities to look back, presented to her by New Mexico Legal Aid. Prior to entering law school, MacNeil worked as a paralegal for the organization and helped innumerable clients undergoing devastating financial abuse.

She notes that her experience with those clients revealed how controlling money can be, and how financial literacy lets a person regain power over their own lives. Money, specifically, gives people in harmful situations the means to leave those circumstances and protect themselves from further abuse.

Looking back, MacNeil says that the relationship between her mother and father mirrors that of many of the clients she helped. Her experiences growing up provided early insight into dynamics commonly seen in abusive relationships, which later informed her work assisting survivors during her time with New Mexico Legal Aid.

It's with that personal and professional experience, not to mention the countless lessons her mother taught her in life and death, that MacNeil can take a unique approach to the question of financial literacy. She hopes to leverage her legal career to help more people understand the relationship between personal freedom and financial literacy.

MacNeil is set to graduate from the University of New Mexico School of Law in May 2028. The investment fraud lawyers with Meyer Wilson Werning wish her the best of luck with the rest of her academic career and look forward to watching her use her experience to help communities in need.

About Meyer Wilson Werning

If a stockbroker or financial advisor breaks a client's trust, commits fraud, or compromises a client's investments, that client has the right to take action. An investment fraud attorney with Meyer Wilson Werning can identify illegal or other misconduct and fight for justice on behalf of victims.

Meyer Wilson Werning has served clients in need since 1999. The team has secured settlements and verdicts that restore hundreds of millions of dollars to clients who've been taken advantage of by unethical brokerage firms, banks, and financial advisors.

Meyer Wilson Werning invites anyone struggling with the aftermath of financial fraud to reach out for a free case consultation today.

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