ABA Administrative Law Section’s Annual Scholarship Award

Anne Joseph O’Connell, Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law, was co-awarded the 2021 American Bar Association (ABA) Administrative Law Section’s Annual Scholarship Award which honors the best work published in the field of administrative law during 2020. She has been recognized for her scholarship, Actings, which examines open questions about acting government officials through empirical, legal, and normative frameworks. This marks O’Connell’s third time receiving this ABA award, placing her in a triumvirate of “three-peaters” with Professors Jerry Mashaw (Yale Law) and Cass Sunstein (Harvard Law), who both have received the award three times.

The committee stated that Professor O’Connell’s Actings presents “a remarkably precise, detailed, and highly persuasive analysis and critique of the endemic problems associated with staffing the federal executive branch. She demonstrates with convincing clarity, using an impressive data set spanning multiple presidential administrations, that – contrary to the received wisdom – acting officers are increasingly the rule rather than the exception.”

Founded in 1878, the ABA is committed to advancing the rule of law across the United States and beyond by providing practical resources for legal professionals, law school accreditation, model ethics codes and more. Its mission is to serve equally its members, its profession and the public by defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession.

New ASLH Fellowships

On November 6, the American Society for Legal History (ASLH) announced at its 51st annual meeting the creation of new fellowships honoring distinguished scholars who have made extraordinary contributions to the field of legal history. Two fellowships are named for Stanford University Law School faculty: the Lawrence Friedman/Stanford Law School Fellowship and the Robert Gordon/Stanford Law School Fellowship will be awarded every other year to early career scholars selected as fellows of the J. Willard Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History. 

Joining the Stanford Law faculty in 1968, Lawrence Friedman, the Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law, is an internationally renowned legal historian, a leading figure in the law and society movement, and one of the most cited legal scholars of all time. The recipient of six honorary law degrees and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Friedman’s extensive published works have become classic textbooks in legal and undergraduate education. 

A preeminent legal historian with expertise in American legal history, evidence, the legal profession, and law and globalization, Robert Gordon, Stanford Professor of Law, Emeritus, who joined the Stanford Law faculty in 1982, spent time in the U.S. Army and as a journalist before teaching at Stanford, Harvard and Yale law schools.

The American Society for Legal History was founded in 1956 to foster interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching in the broad field of legal history. Although based in the United States, its purview and membership are international in scope.

About Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is one of the nation’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business, and high technology. Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, produce outstanding legal scholarship and empirical analysis, and contribute regularly to the nation’s press as legal and policy experts. Stanford Law School has established a model for legal education that provides rigorous interdisciplinary training, hands-on experience, global perspective and focus on public service, spearheading a movement for change.