Finest Law School Writers Selected by The Burton Awards Program
New York, New York: The finest law school writers of 2025 have been selected by the Burton Awards, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit program, which is run in association with the Library of Congress, presented by lead sponsor Law360, and co-sponsored by the American Bar Association and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
The fifteen authors will be presented the “Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Awards” on May 19, 2025. They were chosen from the nominations submitted by the nation’s top law schools. William Burton, Founder and Chair of the awards program, said “The winners are truly exceptional writers. They exceeded our greatest expectations, and we congratulate all of them for receiving the honor.”
The Academic Board, which reviewed articles published within the past year, was led by Virginia Wise, Chair, formerly of Harvard Law School; Kristen K. Tiscione, Georgetown Law Center; Lindsay Sturges Saffouri, UC Berkeley School of Law; William C. Burton, Founder and Chair of the event; and William Ryan, Director of Communications, Library of Congress.
The awards program will be celebrating its Twenty-Sixth Anniversary at the Library of Congress. The awards ceremony, featuring former anchor of ABC’s Nightline, Ted Koppel as the Master of Ceremonies. The awards ceremony will be followed by a pre-dinner reception, gala, and performance by 16-time Grammy Award-winner David Foster and Broadway star, Katharine McPhee.
The following law school authors are Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award Winners:
| LAW SCHOOL | AUTHOR | ARTICLE TITLE |
| Brooklyn Law School | Alexandra Mallory | Closing Down Access to Asylum: The Illegal Migration Act’s Incompatibility with International Refugee Law |
| BYU Law School | Elyse Slabaugh | Dignity, Deference, and Discrimination: An Analysis of Religious Freedom in America’s Prisons |
| Case Western Reserve University School of Law | Anna Glavaš | Challenging the Constitutionality of Anti-Immigrant State Legislation: A Two-Prong Approach |
| Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology | Ryan Martin | The Sincere Parody: An Analysis of the Copyright Implications of an Emerging Trend in Commercial Musical Theatre |
| City University of New York School of Law | Paulina Leyva Hernandez and Salimah Khoja | Between a River and a Wall: An Impossible Choice for Migrants Living Under Operation Lone Star and S.B. 4* |
| Columbia Law School | Andrew Straky | The Brief Life and Enduring Promise of Civil Rights Removal |
| Duke Law School | Ken Krmoyan | Immigration Incentives In FCPA Enforcement: The Case For Protecting At-Risk Foreign Whistleblowers |
| Emory University School of Law | Josh Blackman | Playing Fair, Paying Fair: A Comprehensive Federal Scheme for the Regulation of Collectives and the Student-Athlete Name, Image and Likeness Market |
| Fordham Law School | Amy Walker | An Apt Analogy?: Rethinking the Role of Judicial Deference to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Post-Kisor |
| Pepperdine Caruso Law | Jake S. Neill | Who Let the Ghouls Out? The History and Tradition Test’s Embrace of Neutrality and Pluralism in Establishment Cases |
| Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University | Isabella Santos | Bright Young Minds: Envisioning a Child’s Right to Direct Their Education |
| University of Alabama School of Law | Annabelle Granholm | Earning by Performing: Placing a Performative Citizenship Lens on the Earned Citizenship Regime |
| University of Miami School of Law | Elizabeth Hendrickson | The “Amateur” Division I Athlete Is Becoming a Thing of the Past, so Now What?: Addressing the Action Needed to Preserve Amateurism in College Sports |
| University of South Carolina Rice School of Law | William Rees | Enhancing Law Enforcement or Compromising Privacy? The Problem with South Carolina’s Use of Automatic License Plate Readers |
| Washington University School of Law | Lauryn Masters | Confounding Interests: Next-Best Alternatives to the Unattainable Notion of Complete Fairness in Cy-Pres-Only Class Action Settlements |
THE BURTON AWARDS
The Burton Awards, established in 1999, is funded by the Burton Foundation, a non-profit 501(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, including members of the military and executive branch of the government, 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 E. Robinson, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, IBM; 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; Bradford Berenson, General Counsel, TPG; and Craig T. Beazer, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Lincoln Financial.
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 is also the Founder and Chair of the Burton Foundation for Legal Achievement, which funds the 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, he received the ABA Presidential Citation for his visionary leadership and contributions to the legal profession and society at large.