Lewis Prize for Excellence in Legal Scholarship
Each year since 2013 the Frances Lewis Law Center has awarded the Lewis Prize for Excellence in Legal Scholarship to two members of the Washington and Lee University School of Law faculty to celebrate outstanding contributions to legal scholarship in their respective fields that were supported by Law Center summer grants. These awards recognize works that are of the highest quality and are aimed at, or likely to have an impact on, improving the law or the administration of justice.
Recipients of the Lewis Prize have included:
2023
Mark Drumbl, whose recent publications involve completed and forthcoming books critically considering the status of informers in totalitarian regimes and the way the law perceives violence perpetrated by children. The Law Center Committee noted that Professor Drumbl's work reflects deep command of his subjects, which allows him to "transcend legal doctrine and to dare to engage ethereal themes and theory-such as the aesthetics of justice."
Karen Woody for her article "Corporate Crime and Cooperation," which the Lewis Law Center committee described as "terrific example of a traditional, thorough, set-piece law review article that is already having real-world impact." The Law Center Committee praised the article for being "deeply researched and effectively delivered, providing important insights on current DOJ policies, including implications for different legal stakeholders."
2022
Joshua Fairfield for his extensive contributions to law and technology, including digital property, electronic contracts, data privacy and surveillance, artificial intelligence, and virtual communities.
Kish Parella for her continuing scholarly work at the intersections of transnational law, contracts, business, governance, and ethics, including transnational regulation of corporate conduct, corporate human rights compliance in global supply chains, and corporate reputational issues.
2021
Johanna Bond, for her scholarly work in the fields of international human rights law, including women's rights and her new book, Global Intersectionality and Contemporary Human Rights.
Brandon Hasbrouck, for his continued scholarly contributions in the areas of criminal law and racial justice.
2020
Carliss Chatman, for her scholarly work in a variety of fields, including business law, corporate law, and ethics.
Brandon Hasbrouck, for his scholarly contributions in the areas of criminal law and racial justice.
2019
J.D. King, for scholarly contributions in the field of criminal law and procedure
Doug Rendleman, for his decades-long scholarship and leadership in the field of remedies, and recent work on nationwide injunctions
2018
Sarah Haan, for scholarly contributions on numerous issues at the intersection of business law and politics, including corporate political speech, campaign finance disclosure, and the First Amendment
Margaret Hu, for scholarship in the areas of constitutional law, data privacy, and civil rights
2017
Josh Fairfield, for his new book on the intersection of law and technology, Owned: Property, Privacy, and the New Digital Serfdom.
Jill Fraley, for scholarship on numerous aspects of property law
2016
Michelle Drumbl, for her continuing series of outstanding contributions in the area of tax administration and tax policy
Russell Miller, for his continuing series of outstanding contributions in the area of comparative privacy and intelligence oversight
2015
Mark Drumbl, for his continuing series of outstanding contributions in the area of international criminal law
Margaret Hu, for her article titled Big Data Due Process
2014
Kish Parella, for her article titled Transcommercial Institutional Legitimacy
Victoria Sahani, for her article titled Harmonizing Third-Party Litigation Funding Regulation
2013
Erik Luna and Josh Fairfield, for their article titled Digital Innocence
Susan Franck, for her forthcoming book on investment treaty arbitration, as well as for producing two articles related to investor-State mediation