Judy M. Weightman Memorial Public Interest Award

The 2023-2024 National Award period is now closed. All Nominations must be approved by the Law School Dean or Associate/Assistant Dean and  received by the ABA Law Student Division on or before 12 noon (CDT), Friday, April 26 via the Electronic Nomination Form.

The nomination packet is available here.

See each year's winners of the award in our awards archive.

The Law Student Division Public Interest Award serves as a testament to Professor Judy M. Weightman of the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii who, before losing her battle with breast cancer in 1998, demonstrated her passion for justice and tirelessly advocated  on behalf of minorities and the poor. This award recognizes law students and law schools who have  made outstanding contributions to underrepresented groups or public interest causes outside the law school and/or in public service at the law school. 

Eligibility 

ABA-approved law schools, their law students and law school organizations. 

Part A – Contact Information 

You will be required to provide accurate contact information for the following individuals: 

1. Nominee 
2. Nominator 
3. Law School SBA President 
4. Law School ABA Representative 
5. Law School Dean 

Part B – Nominee Background Information 

You will be required to provide the following background information regarding the nominee: 

1. Nominee’s total 2023-2024 budget
2. 2023-2024 law school enrollment
3. Nominee’s total law student participation

Part C – Narrative Questions (1,250 Word Limit) 

In the narrative portion of the Nomination Packet, you will be required to answer the following questions about your nominee using a maximum of 1,250 words.  

The Judy M. Weightman Memorial Public Interest Award applies to a single event, activity, or  program. If your school adopts a general program for the year that contains many single events as  part of that general program, please note the general program in a sentence or two, but nominate  only one (1) single event, activity or program. 

1. New or Existing Program: In one word, indicate if the nominated program was a new or continuing. A new program is one that has never occurred at your school in the same or a similar manner; an existing program is one that has occurred in the past in the same or similar manner.
2. Description: Please describe one public interest event, activity, or similar occurrence at your school. Indicate which public interest group or cause the program represented. Briefly describe how the program related to that public interest.
3. Impact: How did your event/program/initiative impact the public interest cause or contribute to a heightened awareness and sensitivity to the public interest cause? Please touch on the following areas: 
   1. Describe the situation that gave rise to the event or problem addressed by the program and how the program contributed to resolving or rising awareness about the problem.
   2. Explain the initial goals for the program, including the number of students expected to participate and the number of people the program was expected to reach. Please use specific numbers where appropriate.
   3. Discuss the event, activity, or occurrence generally, with details about the most important areas. If the event is part of a larger program, please begin this section with one or two sentences describing the larger program.
   4. Did the event, activity, or occurrence achieve its goal? If so, how? How were the goals measured?
   5. Detail follow-up activities related to the event, activity or occurrence.
   6. Was the program successful? If so, how? How can the program be improved in the future? 
      
4. Benefits: Please describe the short- or long-term benefits that this event/program/initiative provided to the law student body, law school or community. 
5. Promotion: Did you promote/market this event as part of the ABA Law Student Division Annual Public Interest/Service Work-A-Day Program? If so, please describe. 

Part D – Nominator’s Certification 

As the nominator, you will be required to certify that: 

1. The information contained in the Nomination Packet is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge. 
2. The narrative answering the questions in Part C contains no more than 1,250 words. 

Part E – Dean’s Certification 

In order for your nomination to be considered by the ABA Law Student Division Awards Selection  Committee, the Law School Dean or Assistant Dean must affirm your nomination by signing Part E  of the Nomination Packet. Nominators are responsible for completing the Nomination Form in its  entirety and obtaining the dean's signature certifying his/her approval of the nomination.