November 27, 2012
Janai S. Nelson, Associate Professor of Law and Associate
Director of
The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic
Development, is the recipient of the Association of American
Law Schools (AALS) Section on Minority Groups' 2013 Derrick A. Bell
Award. Professor Nelson accepted the award at the recent AALS
Annual Meeting.
Named in honor of the late Professor
Derrick A. Bell, Jr. ― the first tenured African-American on
the Harvard Law School faculty ― the annual Derrick A. Bell
Award honors a junior faculty member who, through activism,
mentoring, colleagueship, teaching and scholarship, has made an
extraordinary contribution to legal education, the legal system or
social justice.
“This award is a great honor,” Professor Nelson said. “I am very
proud that my work as an educator and legal scholar at St. John’s
is carrying forward Professor Bell’s mission of examining critical
issues of race and social justice.” St. John’s School of Law has a
long history of providing forums for studying and discussing how
the law and its practitioners can redress injustice locally,
nationally and globally. For over a decade, The Ronald H. Brown
Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development has been at the
forefront of legal studies, research and outreach focusing on
issues that affect the lives of underrepresented people, while
simultaneously educating law students to be leaders on issues of
racial, economic and social justice.
“This is well deserved recognition for Professor Nelson,” said
Michael A. Simons, the Law School’s Dean and John V. Brennan
Professor of Law and Ethics. “She is an outstanding teacher, a
dedicated mentor, and an important scholar. Her research on
election law demonstrates the real world impact of legal
scholarship.”
“Derrick Bell was one of my law school professors,” Dean Simons
added, “and I am proud that Professor Nelson is carrying on his
legacy here at St. John’s.”