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Law and Courts

The purpose of this section is to promote interest in teaching and research in the areas of law and the judicial process.

Website: www.law.nyu.edu/lawcourts/

Law and Politics Book Review is available at: www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/lpbr/


2009 - 2010 Officers

Chair:
Christine B. Harrington
New York University
Politics
19 West 4th Street, 207
New York NY 10003
christine.harrington@nyu.edu

Chair-Elect:
Melinda Gann Hall
Michigan State University
Political Science
303 S Kedzie Hall
East Lansing MI 48824-1032
hallme@msu.edu

Secretary:
Robert M. Howard
Georgia State University
Political Science
PO Box 4069
38 Peachtree Center Avenue
Atlanta GA 30302-4069
polrmh@langate.gsu.edu

Treasurer:
Isaac  Unah
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Political Science
CB No. 3265
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3265
unah@unc.edu

Executive Committee:
James Stoner, Louisiana State University
Chad Westerland, University of Arizona
Pamela Corley, Vanderbilt University
Kevin McGuire, University of North Carolina
Kirk Randazzo, University of South Carolina


 Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award Committee of the Law and Courts Section is now taking nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors a distinguished career of scholarly achievement and service to the Law and Courts field.

Nominees must be political scientists who are at least 65 years of age or who have been active in the field for at least 25 years. Nominations from previous competitions will be carried forward to the current year's competition. The committee will retain nominations for 3 years, but one may re-nominate an individual and renew the materials in the file. Nominations may be made by any member of the Section and should consist of a statement outlining the contributions of the nominee and, if possible, the nominee's vitae.

A committee of five, appointed by the Section chair, selects the winner.  Please send nomination materials via email.   Nominations should be submitted by February 15, 2010.

Award Committee Chair:
R. Shep Melnick, Boston College
melnicrs@bc.edu

Award Committee Members:
Jennifer Culbert, Johns Hopkins University
jculbert@jhu.edu

Tracey George, Vanderbilt University
tracey.george@vanderbilt.edu

Douglas Reed, Georgetown University
reedd@georgetown.edu

Gordon Silverstein, University of California, Berkeley
gsilver@berkeley.edu

Best Graduate Student Paper Award
This award is given annually for the best paper on law and courts written by a graduate student. To be eligible the nominated paper must have been written by a full-time graduate student. Single- and co-authored papers are eligible. In the case of co-authored papers, each author must have been a full-time graduate student at the time the paper was written. Papers may have been written for any purpose (e.g., seminars, scholarly meetings, potential publication in scholarly journals). This is not a thesis or dissertation competition. Papers may be nominated by faculty members or by the students themselves. The papers must have been written during the twelve months previous to the nomination deadline. The award carries a cash prize of $200. To be considered for this year's competition, a copy of the nominated paper should be submitted to each member of the award committee members by February 15, 2010.  (e-mail attachments, in the form of .pdf files, are acceptable).

Award Committee Chair:
Pamela Brandwein, University of Michigan
pbrand@umich.edu

Award Committee Members:
Kristin Bumiller, Amherst College
kbumiller@amherst.edu

Lief Carter, Colorado College
LHCarter@ColoradoCollege.edu

Laura Hatcher, Southern Illinois University
hatcher@siu.edu

Tony Smith, University of California, Irvine
tonysmithuci@gmail.com

C. Herman Pritchett Award
The C. Herman Pritchett award is given annually for the best book on law and courts written by a political scientist and published the previous year. Case books and edited books are not eligible. Books may be nominated by publishers or by members of the Section. The award carries a cash prize of $250. To be considered for this year's competition, a copy of the nominated book must be submitted to each member of the award committee members by February 15, 2010.

Award Committee Chair:
Sheldon  Goldman
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Political Science
200 Hicks Way
Amherst MA 01003-9277

Award Committee Members:
Howard  Gillman
University of Southern California
USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
ADM 304
Los Angeles CA 90089-4012

Lisa L. Miller
Rutgers University
Political Science
406 Hickman Hall
89 George Street
New Brunswick NJ 08901-1411

Reginald S. Sheehan
Michigan State University
Political Science
303 South Kedzie Hall
East Lansing MI 48824-1032

Helena Silverstein
Lafayette College
Government & Law
Kirby Hall of Civil Rights
Easton PA 18042-1780

Best Conference Paper Award
This award is given annually for the best paper on law and courts presented at the previous year's annual meetings of the American, Midwest, Northeastern, Southern, Southwestern, or Western Political Science Associations. Single- and co-authored papers, written by political scientists, are eligible. Papers may be nominated by any member of the Section. The award carries a cash prize of $100. To be considered for this year's competition, a copy of the nominated paper should be submitted to each member of the award committee members by February 15, 2010.  (e-mail attachments, in the form of .pdf files, are acceptable). 

Award Committee Chair:
Thomas Keck, Syracuse University
tmkeck@maxwell.syr.edu

Award Committee Members:
Renee Cramer, Drake University
renee.cramer@drake.edu

Kathleen Moore, University of California, Santa Barbara
kmoore@religion.ucsb.edu

Howard Schweber, University of Wisconsin, Madison
schweber@poliscie.wisc.edu

David Yalof, University of Connecticut
david.yalof@uconn.edu


Lasting Contribution Award
This award is given annually for a book or journal article, 10 years or older, that has made a lasting impression on the field of law and courts. Only books and articles written by political scientists are eligible; single-authored works produced by winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award are not eligible. The award carries a cash prize of $250. Any member of the Section may submit a nomination. The nomination should include a statement outlining the nature of the contribution of the nominated work.  To be considered for this year's competition, nomination statements should be submitted to each member of the award committee members by February 15, 2010.

Award Committee Chair:
Susan R. Burgess
Ohio University
Political Science
225 Bentley Hall Annex
Athens OH 45701

Award Committee Members:
Sean Farhang
University of California, Berkeley
Goldman School of Public Policy
2607 Hearst Avenue
Berkeley CA 94720

William T. Haltom
University of Puget Sound
Politics & Government
1500 N Warner
Tacoma WA 98416-1052

Carol  Nackenoff
Swarthmore College
Political Science
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore PA 19081

Austin  Sarat
Amherst College
Political Science
Clark House/Seelye St
Amherst MA 01002

Best Journal Article Award 
This award recognizes the best journal article on law and courts written by a political scientist and published during the previous calendar year.   Articles published in all refereed journals and in law reviews are eligible, but book reviews, review essays, and chapters published in edited volumes are not eligible.  Journal editors and members of the section may nominate articles.  To be considered for this year's competition, a copy of the nominated paper should be submitted to each member of the award committee members by February 15, 2010. (e-mail attachments, in the form of .pdf files, are acceptable).

Award Committee Chair:
Susan E. Lawrence, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Award Committee Members:
Tom  Ginsburg, University of Illinois
tginsbur@law.uiuc.edu

Harry Hirsch, Oberlin College
harry.hirsch@oberlin.edu

Kristin A. Kelly, University of Connecticut
kkelly@uconnvm.uconn.edu

Michael W. McCann, University of Washington, Seattle
mwmccann@u.washington.edu

Teaching and Mentoring Award
The Committee selects the winner of the Teaching and Mentoring Award, which recognizes innovative teaching and instructional methods and materials in law and courts. The Teaching and Mentoring Award recognizes innovation in instruction in law and courts. Examples of innovations that might be recognized by this award include (but are not limited to) outstanding textbooks, web sites, classroom exercises, syllabi, or other devices designed to enhance the transmission of knowledge about law and courts to undergraduate or graduate students. The Teaching and Mentoring Award is sponsored by the Division for Public Education of the American Bar Association. Any member of the section may make a nomination for the Teaching and Mentoring Award by submitting to each member of the award committee a statement identifying the nominee and outlining the nature of the nominee's innovation and the contribution it makes to achieving the purposes of the award by e-mail attachments, in the form of .pdf files, are acceptable.   The Teaching and Mentoring Committee also advises the Organized Section on matters related to teaching and mentoring of students and colleagues.

Award Committee Chair:
Leslie Goldstein, University of Delaware
lesl@udel.edu

Award Committee Members:
Erin Ackerman, John Jay College-CUNY
eackerman@jjay.cuny.edu

John Barnes, University of Southern California
barnesj@usc.edu

Dion Farganis, Bowling Green State University
fargard@bgsu.edu

Iza Hussin, University of Massachusetts
hussin@legal.umass.edu