WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2023 — Three law professors, a former acting attorney general, an associate general counsel and a law student were honored for their contributions to the field of administrative law at a ceremony Dec. 2 during the 2022 Administrative Law Conference, sponsored by the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
The honorees are:
Mary C. Lawton Award for Outstanding Government Service
Jeffrey A. Rosen is the 2022 recipient of the award, which honors the memory of Mary Lawton, a distinguished career government lawyer who also served in leadership of the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice for several years. Rosen, section chair for 2015-2016, served as acting U.S. attorney general at the Department of Justice in the final days of the administration of former President Donald J. Trump, and previously served in the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Transportation. The award recognizes Rosen’s outstanding contributions to the development, implementation or improvement of administrative law and regulatory practice that reflects sustained excellence in performance.
Award for Scholarship in Administrative Law
University of Michigan Law School professors Julian Davis Mortenson and Nicholas Bagley are the 2022 recipients of the award, which recognizes the best scholarly work published in the field of administrative law during 2021. Their article, “Delegation at the Founding,” refutes the claim that the Constitution was originally understood to contain a nondelegation doctrine. The article presents an original insight and new theoretical construct about a current issue of administrative law and is persuasively argued and supported with new evidence and research.
Section Fellow Award
Christopher J. Walker, section chair for 2020-2021, is the 2022 recipient of this award, which recognizes outstanding contribution to the field of administrative law. Walker has chaired several section committees, serving three years on the governing council, then successive years as vice chair, chair-elect and section chair. Walker is a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law and formerly was the John W. Bricker Professor of Law at The Ohio State University.
Walker’s scholarship has been published in law reviews and journals throughout the country, including the section’s Administrative and Regulatory Law News and Notice & Comment blog.
Chair’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service
Christina McDonald is the recipient of the 2022 Chair’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. McDonald has contributed to the section for many years, speaking on panels, webinars and in section leadership, while working as associate General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. During 2022, McDonald finished her final year on the section’s governing council, was co-chair of the Homeland Security Law Institute and offered recommendations for interesting and relevant CLE topics for the section’s fall conference.
Gellhorn-Sargentich Law Student Essay Award
Laura Stanley is the recipient of the 2022 award for her essay, “Supervising Guantanamo Tribunals: Appointments Clause Challenges after Arthrex.” The award honors the memory of Ernest Gellhorn, a distinguished law dean, administrative law professor and former section chair, and Thomas O. Sargentich, a distinguished administrative law professor at American University Washington College of Law and a friend and contributor to the section. The competition aims to encourage law students to become involved in the section, attract students to the administrative law practice fields and to encourage scholarship in these fields.
Click here to watch a video of the event.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.