Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award
The 2008 Award Ceremony:
On Thursday, January 3, 2008, two awards will be conferred at the
AALS Annual Meeting in New York at a very special event sponsored
by the LWI and ALWD.
(1) The Golden Pen Award will be presented to Judge Ruggero J.
Aldisert, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit; and
(2) The Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award will be presented to
Diana V. Pratt, Director of Legal Writing at Wayne State University
Law School from 1981 until 2007.
The 2008
Award Ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Sheraton New
York Hotel and Towers, Empire Ballroom East, 2nd Floor, 811 7th
Avenue at 53rd Street with a reception following.
Please make every effort to help us celebrate the outstanding achievements
and contributions Judge Aldisert and Professor Pratt have made to
the field of legal writing.
The Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award is annually bestowed at
the AALS conference. The Boards of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI)
and the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) jointly created
this Award to honor the life of our colleague, Tom Blackwell.
Criteria
Honoring the life of Thomas F. Blackwell for his personal and
professional qualities as a Legal Writing educator, the Legal Writing
Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors give this
award to recognize a person who has made an outstanding contribution
to improve the field of Legal Writing by demonstrating:
- An ability to nurture and motivate students to excellence;
- A willingness to help other Legal Writing educators improve
their teaching skills or their Legal Writing Programs;
- An ability to create and integrate new ideas for teaching and
motivating Legal Writing educators and students.
Procedures for the Award
- The Award shall be presented at the annual January meeting
of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS).
- By May 31st of the year preceding the January presentation,
the Award Committee shall have solicited nominees for the Award
from the members of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) and the
Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD). The Committee shall
request that nominations for the Award be sent privately to the
Award Committee Chair.
- The Award Committee, consisting of seven experienced legal
writing professionals, shall be jointly appointed by the LWI and
ALWD governing boards.
- The Award Committee may consider a variety of factors related
to the Criteria to select an Award recipient. These factors may
include, among others, efforts to improve the status and security
of Legal Writing educators; scholarship that is published or is
presented at professional meetings; and efforts made to support
and encourage other Legal Writing educators.
- By July 31st of the year preceding the January meeting, the
Award Committee will recommend a recipient to LWI and ALWD governing
boards for their approval. The governing boards will vote to accept
or reject the nomination and instruct the Committee as to the
Award’s presentation. No person serving as a member of the
governing boards or as a member of the Award Committee may be
a recipient of the Award.
- The Award shall be in the amount of $1,000.00.
Award Recipients
A plaque listing the winners is on display at Appalachian Law School.
2006 - Louis Sirico of Villanova Law School
2005 - Mary Beth Beazley of Ohio State
2004 - Ralph Brill of Chicago-Kent
2003 - Pam Lysaght of Detroit Mercy
2002 - Richard K. Neumann of Hofstra University
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