John Henry Vansant

John Henry Vansant joined Leonard Carder as an Associate in 2025 after receiving his J.D. and his Master of Public Policy from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Law and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

While in law school, he advised farmworkers and Medicaid recipients in the Workplace Rights and the Health & Disability Law Clinics. He was an editor with the Virginia Law Review and the Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, and he served on the boards of the National Lawyers Guild and Virginia Employment & Labor Law Association. During his summers, John Henry clerked for Leonard Carder as a 2023 Peggy Browning Fellow and worked for AFSCME Local 3299’s legal department. Upon graduation, he received the Earle K. Shawe Labor Relations Award and the Claire Corcoran Award for Public Service, and he graduated as a member of the Raven Society, UVA’s oldest honors society.

Prior to law school, John Henry was a political organizer and legislative aide in Colorado. He was a co-founder of the Political Workers Guild of Colorado, one of the first unions in the country to represent legislative aides and local campaign workers.