Frank James ’78, was honored during the annual Farrah Banquet as the 2011 recipient of the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award, The Pipes Award is given to an outstanding alumnus who has distinguished himself or herself through service to the bar, the University of Alabama, and the School of Law.
To celebrate the 50 years since publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, The University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal, “The Lawyer’s Magazine,” will be awarding the First Annual Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. It will be awarded annually to a published book-length work of fiction that best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society, and their power to effect change.
The Prize honors Ms. Lee, a former law student at Alabama, as well as Atticus Finch, the unforgettable character she created, whose steadfast honesty and deep sense of duty to the law have become a standard by which lawyers still measure themselves.
Judging the entries will be novelists Linda Fairstein and David Baldacci, journalist Jeffrey Toobin of CNN and The New Yorker, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and former American Bar Association President, Robert J. Grey, Jr. The public will be invited to vote for their favorite among the finalists on the ABA Journal website.
The Harper Lee Prize will be presented to the winner in conjunction with the Library of Congress 2011 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
Books are eligible if they were first published in 2010. The deadline for nominations is April 8, 2011, and there is no entry fee.
More information about the Prize, including the eligibility criteria and entry form, is available at www.HarperLeePrize.org.
At a reception at the offices of Skadden Arps, high above Times Square in New York City, the 2010 Morris Dees Justice Award was given to Larry Hammond, founder and chair of the Arizona Justice Project. The award is jointly sponsored by The University of Alabama Law School and Skadden Arps. The award ceremony was held November 18, 2010.
Legendary civil rights attorney Morris Dees, a UA Law School alumnus and co-founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, presented the award to Hammond, a partner in the Arizona law firm of Osborn Maledon, P.A.
UA Law School Dean Ken Randall and Skadden Arps partner Bob Sheehan also participated in the ceremony, recognizing the vital role of attorneys who have dedicated their professional lives to the pursuit of justice.
The Morris Dees Justice Award was created in 2006 by Skadden Arps and The University of Alabama School of Law to honor Dees for his life-long devotion to public service. The award is given annually to a lawyer who has devoted his or her career to serving the public interest and pursuing justice, and whose work has brought about positive change in the community, state, or nation.
Hammond, the 2010 award recipient, has spent much of his career in public service, including stints clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Hugo L. Black and Lewis F. Powell, Jr.; as an Assistant Special Prosecutor during Watergate; and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice.
Hammond is the founder and chair of the Arizona Justice Project, and a member of the Board of the Arizona Capital Representation Project. He also serves as chair of the Criminal Justice Reform Committee of The American Judicature Society (AJS), an organization he served as president from 2003 to 2005.
Hammond was honored for his tireless work to correct systemic injustice in death penalty litigation in the United States, for his representation of defendants in capital cases and for leading efforts to create the AJS Institute for Forensic Science and Public Policy during his presidency of AJS.
A recipient of many local and national awards, Hammond was nominated by a distinguished group that included former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and former Dean of Yale Law School Harold Hongju Koh.
The first Morris Dees Justice Award recipient, in 2006, was U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice, of the Eastern District of Texas. The 2007 winner was Arthur N. Read, general counsel for Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., based in Philadelphia. The 2008 award went to Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which is located in Miami. Last year’s award recipient was presented to Gordon Bonnyman, Jr., executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center in Nashville.
A sculpture commemorating the award was created by Jillian Crochet, a graduate of The University of Alabama who won the design competition in 2006.
Members of the 2010 Morris Dees Justice Award Selection Committee, who were charged with choosing this year’s recipient, are:
Morris Dees, Honorary Chair
Kenneth C. Randall, Co-Chair (The University of Alabama School of Law)
Robert C. Sheehan, Co-Chair (Skadden, Arps)
Helaine M. Barnett, Past President, Legal Services Corporation
Judge Bernice B. Donald, Western District, Tennessee / Secretary, American Bar Association
Bryan Fair, Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law, The University of Alabama School of Law
Cheryl I. Harris, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Bradley S. Phillips, Co-Chair, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Susan Butler Plum, Director, Skadden Fellowship Foundation
Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director, ACLU
Jeffrey Toobin, Senior Analyst, CNN
Vaughn C. Williams, Partner, Skadden, Arps
Judith A. Winston, Former General Counsel & Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education
The Associated Press discusses piracy and international law with Alabama Law School Dean Kenneth C. Randall leading up to the first U.S. piracy trial in more than 100 years.
Associated Press: “Accused Somali Pirates Headed for U.S. Trial“
Once again, The National Jurist has named The University of Alabama School of Law in its annual list of “Best Value Law Schools.”
Read the full article at this link.
Criminal enforcement of federal water-pollution laws has continued a more than decadelong slide under the Obama administration, despite pledged improvements, according to U.S. EPA data.
Click here to continue reading “Slide in EPA Clean Water Criminal Enforcement Continues Under Obama” published by The New York Times on October 25, 2010.
The billions in federal stimulus dollars spent on expanding “green energy” industries and creating “green jobs” have provided a lifeline for U.S. wind and solar companies, but renewable-energy executives are worried that the future will not be as promising.
Click here to continue reading the Washington Post‘s October 23, 2010 article: “Clean Energy Industry Keeps Eye on Funds that Sustain It.”
U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was the keynote speaker during the University of Alabama School of Law and the UA Honors College celebration of the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” an event that saw the school also announce a new annual award, “The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Literature.”
Continue reading this Tuscaloosa News article at this link: “Holder See No Tension Between Security, Liberty.”
Skadden, Arps and The University of Alabama School of Law announced today that Larry Hammond, founder and chair of the Arizona Justice Project, has been awarded the 2010 Morris Dees Justice Award.
Legendary civil rights attorney Morris Dees, who is co-founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, will present the award to Hammond, a partner in the Arizona law firm of Osborn Maledon, P.A., during a reception at Skadden, Arps’s offices in New York City on Thursday, November 18, 2010.
The Morris Dees Justice Award was created in 2006 by Skadden, Arps and The University of Alabama School of Law to honor Dees, an Alabama graduate, for his life-long devotion to public service. The award is given annually to a lawyer who has devoted his or her career to serving the public interest and pursuing justice, and whose work has brought about positive change in the community, state, or nation.
Hammond, the 2010 award recipient, has spent much of his career in public service, including stints clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Hugo L. Black and Lewis F. Powell, Jr.; as an Assistant Special Prosecutor during Watergate; and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice.
Hammond is the founder and chair of the Arizona Justice Project, and a member of the Board of the Arizona Capital Representation Project. He also serves as chair of the Criminal Justice Reform Committee of The American Judicature Society (AJS), an organization he served as president from 2003 to 2005.
Hammond is honored for his tireless work to correct systemic injustice in death penalty litigation in the United States, for his representation of defendants in capital cases and for leading efforts to create the AJS Institute for Forensic Science and Public Policy during his presidency of AJS.
A recipient of many local and national awards, Hammond was nominated by a distinguished group that included former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and former Dean of Yale Law School Harold Hongju Koh.
The first Morris Dees Justice Award recipient, in 2006, was U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice, of the Eastern District of Texas. The 2007 winner was Arthur N. Read, general counsel for Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., based in Philadelphia. The 2008 award went to Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which is located in Miami. Last year’s award recipient was presented to Gordon Bonnyman, Jr., executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center in Nashville.
A sculpture commemorating the award was created by Jillian Crochet, a graduate of The University of Alabama who won the design competition in 2006.
Members of the 2010 Morris Dees Justice Award Selection Committee, who were charged with choosing this year’s recipient, are:
Morris Dees, Honorary Chair
Kenneth C. Randall, Co-Chair (The University of Alabama School of Law)
Robert C. Sheehan, Co-Chair (Skadden, Arps)
Helaine M. Barnett, Past President, Legal Services Corporation
Judge Bernice B. Donald, Western District, Tennessee / Secretary, American Bar Association
Bryan Fair, Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law, The University of Alabama School of Law
Cheryl I. Harris, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Bradley S. Phillips, Co-Chair, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Susan Butler Plum, Director, Skadden Fellowship Foundation
Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director, ACLU
Jeffrey Toobin, Senior Analyst, CNN
Vaughn C. Williams, Partner, Skadden, Arps
Judith A. Winston, Former General Counsel & Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education
Visit www.DeesJusticeAward.com for more information regarding the 2010 Morris Dees Justice Award.
The Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) named third-year Alabama Law student Kevin R. Johnson as its “Student of the Month.” Johnson currently serves as National Chair of the ABA Law Student Division.
Join the Conversation