DU Prof. is First to Receive 2 Nat'l Legal Writing/Research Awards in Same Year

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jan Levine, associate professor and director of the Duquesne University School of Law's Legal Research and Writing program, is the first law professor to be honored in one year with both the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research Award and the Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Legal Writing.

Levine will receive the 2014 awards on Friday, Jan. 3, during the AALS annual meeting events in New York.

In announcing the prestigious Section award, the AALS described Levine as being a "visionary" in the legal research and writing field. "Professor Levine's presentations, service and scholarship have helped an entire generation of legal writing professors to innovate. Thanks to his efforts, legal writing is now one of the key factors that prospective students consider in choosing a school," the Section noted in highlighting the award to members.

The Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award is co-presented by the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute. The groups select one awardee annually who has made an outstanding contribution to improve the field of legal writing by demonstrating:

• An ability to nurture and motivate students to excellence
• A willingness to help other legal writing educators improve their teaching skills or their legal writing programs
• An ability to create and integrate new ideas for teaching and motivating legal writing educators and students.

"Professor Jan Levine is the first faculty member in the United States to win these prominent legal research and writing honors in the same year," said Duquesne Law Dean Ken Gormley. "This is a well-deserved honor. His creative vision and his unmatched dedication to the educational advancement of our students has made him a dynamic force in legal education."

Levine joined the law faculty at Duquesne in 2007 with more than two decades of experience leading legal writing and research programs. The Legal Research and Writing program has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation's best every year since then. The magazine's most recent rankings issue places the program at no. 11 on its Best Law Schools Specialty Rankings: Legal Writing List.

Duquesne University
Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's top Catholic universities for its award-winning faculty and tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for its academic programs, community service and commitment to sustainability.

www.duq.edu.

CONTACT: Rose Ravasio, 412.396.6051/cell 412.818.0234; Karen Ferrick-Roman, 412.396.1154/cell 412.736.1877

SOURCE Duquesne University