St. John’s School of Law Professor Janai S. Nelson to Receive Derrick A. Bell Award

Award given to those who have made a contribution to legal education, the legal system or social justice

Janai S. Nelson, Professor of Law and Associate Director of The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, has been selected to receive the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Minority Groups' 2013 Derrick A. Bell Award. Professor Nelson will accept the award at the AALS Annual Meeting in January.

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.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Reilly, Associate Director of Media Relations at St. John’s, by calling (718) 990-5789, or by e-mail to reillye@stjohns.edu.