Section on Minority Groups

Clyde Ferguson Award

The Clyde Ferguson Award may be granted by the Section to an outstanding law teacher, who, in the course of his or her career, has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching, and scholarship. The Award is particularly aimed at law teachers who, have provided support, encouragement and mentoring to colleagues, students and aspiring legal educators.

Nominations and Eligibility: All professional legal educators are eligible for the Award, including those holding professional rank, administrators, librarians, and clinical or writing instructors. However, no serving member of the Executive Committee is eligible to receive the Award.

Nominations may be made by any member of the Section at any time to the Chair of the Section. Each year, the Chair should announce the existence of the Award and solicit nominations widely through e-mail discussion lists, the Section newsletter, and by other means in the discretion of the Chair. Nominations should be made in writing, in the form of a 1-2 page letter describing why the nominee should be considered for the Award.

Selection Process: The Chair shall call a meeting of the Executive Committee to consider the nominees in advance of the Annual Meeting of the AALS. All nominations which were received after the Executive Committee last met to consider the Award shall be considered at the meeting. Copies of written nominations shall be distributed to the members of the executive committee in advance of the meeting.

The recipient shall be selected by consensus of the Executive Committee after discussion, or, if no consensus is reached, by majority vote of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may vote not to grant the Award in any given year. The Executive Committee may vote not to grant the Award in any given year. The Executive Committee may vote to delegate initial consideration of nominees to a subcommittee, which may make a recommendation to the full committee, but no Award shall be made without approval of the full committee.

Derrick A. Bell Award

The Minority Law Teacher’s Section of the Association of American Law Schools established the Derrick Bell Award to honor a junior faculty member who, through activism, mentoring, colleagueship, teaching or scholarship, has made an extraordinary contribution to legal education, the legal system, or social justice.

Nominations and Eligibility: All professional legal educators are eligible for the Award, including those holding professional rank, administrators, librarians, and clinical or writing instructors, so long as they have not received tenure, and have served for seven years or less, at the time of the Award. However, no serving member of the Executive Committee is eligible to receive the Award.

Nominations may be made by any member of the Section at any time to the Chair of the Section. Each year, the Chair should announce the existence of the Award and solicit nominations widely through e-mail discussion lists, the Section newsletter, and by other means in the discretion of the Chair. Nominations should be made in writing, in the form of 1-2 page letter describing why the nominee should be considered for the Award.

Selection Process: The Chair shall call a meeting of the Executive Committee to consider the nominees in advance of the Annual Meeting of the AALS. All nominations which were received after the Executive Committee last met to consider the Award shall be considered at the meeting. Copies of written nominations shall be distributed to the members of the executive committee in advance of the meeting.

The recipient shall be selected by consensus of the Executive Committee after discussion, or, if no consensus is reached, by majority vote of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may vote not to grant the Award in any given year. The Executive Committee may vote to delegate initial consideration of nominees to a subcommittee, which may make a recommendation to the full committee, by no Award shall by made without approval of the full committee.

The Impact Legacy Award

The Award is granted to an outstanding Professional Legal Educator, who, in the course of her, his, or their career, has had a sustained commitment to and transformative impact upon legal education, one or more legal systems, or social justice through teaching, public service, scholarship, or other contributions.

Recipients