Finest Academic in Law for 2025 Awarded to Martha Minow, Former Dean of Harvard law School
New York, New York: “The Hon. Robert A Katzmann Award for Academic Excellence” will be presented to Martha Minow, Former Dean and 300th Anniversary Professor of Harvard Law School. Professor Minow was chosen for her exemplary service during her eight years as Dean and her career in law. The Burton Awards Program is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit effort, presented by lead sponsor Law360, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, run in association with the Library of Congress.
A faculty member at Harvard Law School since 1981 and its dean from 2009 to 2017, Martha Minow has authored numerous influential books, including Saving the News: Why The Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve the Freedom of Speech (2021) and When Should Law Forgive? (2019). Her expertise spans from constitutional law, human rights, and legal responses to social and political conflict. She teaches courses on topics such as constitutional law, international criminal law, and comparative AI governance. Martha Minow co-chairs the Access to Justice Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, chairs the MacArthur Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and serves on other philanthropic and nonprofit boards. Her honors include lifetime achievement awards from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (2023) and the Women in Legal Education Section of the AALS (2024), as well as ten honorary degrees from educational institutions in three countries. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, she has also led initiatives such as Imagine Co-existence for the U.N. and projects to improve digital access for students with disabilities. Professor Minow’s extensive board service includes organizations the Legal Services Corporation, public media GBH, and the Campaign Legal Center, along with past roles at Facing History and Ourselves, the Revson Foundation, and the CBS Corporation.
The award, inspired by the life and work of the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann, is presented annually to a law school dean or professor who has brought added prominence and recognition to their academic institution; if a dean, has demonstrated the finest leadership in overseeing and directing staff operations; if a professor, has demonstrated the highest scholarship and dedication to students; has displayed the utmost aplomb and fine character; and has earned the highest respect and admiration of other leaders in the field of legal education.
The Burton Award, in the name of the Hon. Robert A. Katzmann, honors a person of prodigious achievement and humanity, who was the first federal judge in the history of the United States to have a PhD in political science and whose 22-year tenure on the Second Circuit, 1999 to 2021, included being its Chief Judge from 2013 to 2020. Before being confirmed to the bench, in a voice vote, he was the first Walsh Professor of Government, Law, and Policy at Georgetown University. Judge Katzmann in his pre-bench career was also a scholar for many years at the Brookings Institution. His academic excellence comprises: graduating summa cum laude from Columbia at age 20; obtaining a PhD in government from Harvard and then a JD from Yale Law School; all by age 27. His books before he became a judge include: Regulatory Bureaucracy; Institutional Disability; The Law Firm and the Public Good; and Courts & Congress. He also edited other books on government, law, and policy, and was co-founder of the Governance Institute at Brookings, which he led for many years. For his pathbreaking scholarship the American Political Science Association awarded Robert A. Katzmann its highest award, the Charles E. Merriam Award. Oxford University Press published, in 2014, then-Chief Judge Katzmann’s book Judging Statutes, a seminal text arguing for the purposivism method when statutory language is opaque. At the time of his passing, in June 2021, Judge Katzmann was on senior status at the Second Circuit and a Professor of Practice at NYU Law. His career encompasses as well service on numerous boards, mentorship of many in law and political science, and advocacy for both access to justice and civic education. The Honorable Judge Robert A. Katzmann will always be remembered for his many eloquent quotes, for example the renowned Judge stated, “How a problem is defined importantly shapes the options considered and the weight given to them.”
William C. Burton, Founder and Chair of the Burton Awards, said, “Dean Minow has a special blend of knowledge, expertise, warmth and compassion for others. She is a true scholar and luminary whose lifetime of achievements is an example for everyone in the profession to emulate.”
William Treanor, Executive Vice President and Dean of Georgetown Law Center and co-chair of the “Academic Excellence Committee,” stated “Martha Minow is a perfect selection for this great award. She is a superb scholar whose work has been profoundly influential in areas from education, civil rights, constitutional law, to human rights, and she has grappled with fundamental questions, such as forgiveness and the law. She is a brilliant teacher and was a dean whom we all looked to as a model for how to lead thoughtfully and with concern for others. She is a leader in fighting for access to justice and she has done great public service as Vice Chair of the Legal Services Corporation. Her career reflects the values that defined Chief Judge Katzmann’s historic career. But one of the things that was so inspiring to me about Bob Katzmann was that, with all his achievements, he remained kind and considerate in his dealings with everyone he met. Martha Minow is exactly the same. I know Bob Katzmann would have been delighted with her selection.”
The selection committee is comprised of Dean William Treanor, Executive Vice President of Georgetown University and Dean of Georgetown Law Center, two members of Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann’s family, and William C. Burton, Founder and Chair of the Burton Awards.
This year marks the Twenty-Sixth Anniversary of the program which will be held on Monday, May 19, 2025, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. American broadcast journalist Ted Koppel will serve as Master of Ceremonies. The program will also include a performance by 16 Grammy Award-winning composer and producer David Foster and Broadway star Katharine McPhee.
THE BURTON AWARDS
The Burton Awards, established in 1999,isfunded by the Burton Foundation, a non-profit501(c)(3) organization and academic effort devoted to recognizing and rewarding excellence in the legal profession. The Burton Awards were established to honor the finest accomplishments in law, including writing, reform, public service and interest, regulatory innovation, and lifetime achievements in the profession. The Honorary and Distinguished Board of Directors of The Burton Awards Program includes: William C. Burton, Partner, Sagat | Burton LLP; former Chief Judge Richard A. Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; U.S. Senator Michael F. Bennet; former U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.; U.S. Senator Christopher Coons; U.S. Senator John Cornyn; U.S. Senator Mike Crapo; U.S. Senator Joni Ernst; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; U.S. Senator James E. Risch; U.S. Senator Mike Rounds; U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen Jr.; U.S. Senator Roger Wicker; U.S. Senator Todd Young; Justice Carol A. Corrigan, California Court of Appeals; Les Parrette, President, One Page Thinking; Jane Sullivan Roberts, Managing Partner, Macrae; H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Betty Whelchel, Former Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, BNP Paribas S.A. (retired); Brad Karp, Chairman, Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Linda A. Klein, Senior Managing Shareholder, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, and former President, American Bar
Association; Stephen R. Mysliwiec, Partner, Miller Friel, PLLC; Bernard Nash, State Attorneys General Practice Co-Chair, Cozen O’Connor; Brian D. Burton, Senior Attorney, Alston & Bird; Hubert L. Allen, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Abbott; Bruce Byrd, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Palo Alto Networks; Lynn Charytan, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Comcast Cable; Elaine Mandelbaum, Interactive Brokers LLC; Lucy Fato, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Seaport Entertainment Group; Duane Holloway, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, U. S. Steel Corporation; Marc Kesselman, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Purdue Pharma; Jennifer Newstead, Chief Legal Officer, Meta; Anne Robinson, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Vanguard; Maryanne R. Lavan, former Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Steve McManus, Chief Legal Officer, State Farm; Kevin O’Connor, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Lockheed Martin Corporation; and Bradford Berenson, General Counsel, TPG.
LAW360, LEAD SPONSOR
Law360, a LexisNexis company, is a trusted provider of breaking legal news and in-depth analysis, with up-to- the-minute, comprehensive coverage of litigation, regulation and enforcement, legislation, administrative proceedings, executive actions, corporate deals, legal industry trends, and more. With a unique blend of cutting- edge technology and journalistic expertise, Law360 delivers the intelligence legal and business professionals at top law firms, Fortune 1000 companies, key government agencies, and many other organizations need to remain experts, mitigate risk, and beat the competition.
THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, CO-SPONSOR
With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
This prominent institution is one of the most celebrated and distinguished libraries in the world. It was established on April 24, 1800, and since that time has grown to become one of the largest repositories in history. The Library of Congress functions as both a national library and as the research arm of the U.S. Congress. It contains more than 32 million catalogued books and more than 62 million manuscripts.
WILLIAM C. BURTON, ESQ., CHAIRMAN
William C. Burton is a partner at Sagat|Burton LLP, New York. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Burton Awards Program. He has served as a New York State Assistant Attorney General and an Assistant New York State Special Prosecutor. For fifteen years, he was the Director of Government Affairs for Continental Insurance, then one of the largest international insurance companies. He is the author of “Burton’s Legal Thesaurus,” the first and only reference book of its kind written for the legal profession. The book is now in its sixth edition. When it was published forty-one years ago, Mr. Burton was given a prestigious award by the Association of American Publishers which declared the book “One of the most Creative and Innovate Projects of the Year.” In 1999, Mr. Burton created the Burton Foundation and established the non-profit Burton Awards Program with the initial goal of encouraging clear and comprehensive legal writing and rewarding other monumental achievements in law. In 2010, Mr. Burton was awarded the prestigious Golden Pen Award by the Legal Writing Institute, the second largest organization of law professors in the United States with 3,000 members. The honor was given for his advocacy and impact on legal writing. Later in 2011, he was presented the “Blackstone Award” by the Friends of the Law Library of Congress for embodying and promoting the best ideals of the venerable institution. He was a Legal Reform Award recipient from the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform in the fall of 2017. In 2022, Mr. Burton was selected as a member of the Hofstra Law School Hall of Fame. The Law School selected its top 50 graduates on celebrating its 50th Anniversary. He is also the recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Legal Writers comprised of more than 2,700 jurists, professors and practitioners. The award was previously presented to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Paul Stevens, and Stephen Breyer, and other prominent award winners. In 2024, Mr. Burton received the ABA Presidential Citation for visionary leadership and contributions significantly impacting the legal profession and society at large. Mr. Burton created “The Committee on Legal Terminology” which records annually, officially, new words and phrases in law.