School of Law Professor Selected for Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award

Jan Levine, associate professor and director of the School of Law’s Legal Research and Writing program, will receive the Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in the field of legal writing.

Jan Levine

Presented annually by the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute, this distinguished award is given to a person 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.

“We are thrilled that Professor Jan Levine has received the prestigious Blackwell Award,” said Dean Ken Gormley. “Under Professor Levine’s leadership, the Legal Research and Writing program at Duquesne Law School has steadily risen to become one of the top programs in the United States. Professor Levine’s creative vision and his unmatched dedication to the educational advancement of our students have made him a dynamic force in legal education.

This most recent award is special because it confirms that his peers in the field recognize that he is in a class by himself. We are truly fortunate that this gifted scholar has chosen to make Duquesne his home.”

An expert in the field of legal writing and research, Levine joined the faculty at Duquesne in 2007 with more than two decades of experience leading legal writing and research programs. Duquesne’s program has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation’s best every year since then and the magazine’s most recent rankings issue places the program 11th on its Best Law Schools Specialty Rankings: Legal Writing List.

The Blackwell Award Reception will be held at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools at the New York Marriott Marquis on Friday, Jan. 3, 2014.