Rennard Strickland, Oregon Law Professor, is Honored by ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar

CHICAGO, July 31, 2008—Rennard Strickland, professor emeritus of law at the University of Oregon School of Law, will receive the 2008 Robert J. Kutak Award from the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

The Kutak Award is presented annually to an individual who has contributed significantly to increasing cooperation between legal education, the practicing bar and the judiciary. It will be presented in a reception Aug. 8 at the InterContinental / Barclay Hotel, New York, during the 2008 ABA Annual Meeting.

“Prof. Strickland has dedicated his professional life to the cause of legal education, and in particular to the development of awareness of and appreciation for American Indian law. His legacies are many, and far-reaching,” said Ruth V. McGregor, chair of the section, in announcing Strickland’s selection.

McGregor noted Strickland is a legal historian of Osage and Cherokee heritage, and is considered a pioneer in introducing Indian law into university curricula. From 1990-95, he was director of the American Indian Law and Policy Center at the University of Oklahoma, and he has been chair and arbitrator of the Osage Constitutional Commission, and is the author of more than 35 books, including a major history of the Cherokee legal system.

Strickland is among only a few legal education leaders who has served on the governing groups of all three major national legal education organizations: the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the Law School Admission Council and the Association of American Law Schools. He was dean of the University of Oregon School of Law in 1997-2002, and previously was dean at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, dean and professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law and a research professor of law and history at the University of Tulsa.

While he was in Oregon, Strickland was instrumental in establishing the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics and the Environment and Natural Resource Center. In Wisconsin, he organized efforts to resolve fishing rights controversies. After the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, he spearheaded a community project to use model trials to offset trauma in the city public school system.

Strickland has advocated for minority recruitment in legal education throughout his career. He previously has received the Spirit of Excellence Award from the ABA Commission on Opportunities for Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession, the Society of American Law Teachers Award and the Hayward Burns Award from the Northeast Regional People of Color.

With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization 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.