November 8, 2006

Cooley Legal Authors Society Celebrates 25th Anniversary With New Recognition Awards

The Cooley Law School Legal Authors Society celebrated its 25th year anniversary Wednesday, November 8. The society was created to encourage and give recognition to persons associated with the law school who have contributed to the advancement of legal learning and scholarship through their writing.

Eligible members are those associated with the law school who have produced a significant item of legal writing.

The society meets each year to celebrate and induct new members. This year’s meeting included something new. William R. Ralls, President of the Legal Authors Society, said the "society celebrated the 25th anniversary with the first annual award of the Cooley Legal Authors Prize for excellence in writing during the previous calendar year with the award of a legal writing of a faculty member, and legal writing
of a Cooley student."

At this year’s meeting, the faculty award winner was Mara Kent for "The Common-Law History of Non-Economic Damages in Breach of Contract Actions Versus Willful Breach Of Contract Actions" in The Texas Wesleyan Law Review. The student award winner was Laurel Poe "The Spy Act: A Bandage For An Ever-Festering Sore or an Efficient Safeguard for the American Consumer?" in The Thomas M. Cooley Law Review.

Professor Kent noted, "I am delighted to receive the Legal Author's Society's first ever annual award for faculty scholarship. It's a great honor to be selected, and I am humbled by it. The piece of scholarship that the committee selected was about non-economic damages in breach of contract actions, and I had the pleasure of being able to present my work at an international contracts conference in Gloucester, England."

Ms. Poe, who graduated with her J.D. from Cooley in May 2006 and has taken a litigation position with the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol in Laredo, Texas, noted, "I cannot begin to tell you what an honor it is for me to receive the first annual Legal Authors Award for excellence in writing for my Spyware article. I can truly say that I found my passion for writing at Cooley, and it’s a passion that I will carry with me for a lifetime."

Five new members were accepted into the Legal Authors Society, Cooley faculty members Lauren Rousseau, Cindy Faulkner, Martha Moore, Joan Vestrand, and Stuart Lazar.

Founded in 1972, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country. Cooley has three campuses across Michigan in downtown Lansing, downtown Grand Rapids in west Michigan, and at Rochester/Oakland University in southeast Michigan. In addition to the juris doctor program, students at Cooley can also pursue an LL.M. in Tax or Intellectual Property.