Blackwell Award

The 2012 Award:

The tenth annual Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award winner is Professor Suzanne Rowe of the University of Oregon.

Professor Rowe has served the legal writing community in many capacities, including as a past member of the ALWD and LWI Boards of Directors, as past chair of the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research, as past ALWD Liaison to the ABA Council, as current chair of the ABA’s Communication Skills Committee, and as the mastermind of many informal events to welcome and support new legal writing directors. But what won her the unanimous support of the Awards Committee and both the ALWD and LWI Boards was what she does behind the scenes. Suzanne is a tireless advocate for our profession, in big and small ways: from her work with the LWI ad hoc committee monitoring the ABA Standards Review revision process to the unsolicited e-mails of praise and thanks she frequently sends to her colleagues around the country.

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

1. The Award shall be presented at the annual January meeting of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS).
2. 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.
3. The Award Committee, consisting of seven experienced legal writing professionals, shall be jointly appointed by the LWI and ALWD governing boards.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

2012 - Suzanne Rowe of the University of Oregon

Past Award Recipients

2011 - Carol McCrehan Parker of the University of Tennessee

2010 - Steve Johansen of Lewis & Clark

2009 - Linda Edwards of Mercer Law

2008 - Diana Pratt of Wayne State

2007 - Louis Sirico of Villanova Law School

2006 - Mary Beth Beazley of Ohio State

2005 - Ralph Brill of Chicago-Kent

2004 - Pam Lysaght of Detroit Mercy

2003 - Richard K. Neumann of Hofstra University