I've just learned that UM Law prof and all-around great guy Mario Barnes has won the 2008 AALS Minority Groups Section Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award.
The Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award is named in honor of Derrick A. Bell, Jr. of New York University Law School. The 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.
I don't know exactly what “colleagueship” is, but whatever it is I can't think of a better person to give this prize to.
There will be a ceremony at lunch on Jan 5 at the AALS to present Mario with the award.
This, wouldn't you know it, conflicts with a different lunch ceremony in which another member of the Miami Law faculty will be receiving a richly-deserved award: William Twining, who visits here for part of the Spring semester every year, is due to receive the AALS Evidence section's John Henry Wigmore Award for Lifetime Achievement in Elucidating the Law of Evidence and the Process of Proof.
