NEWS RELEASE
April 28, 2008
Thomas Jefferson Student Once Again Wins Highly Prestigious Burton Award
Anne Knight is Second TJSL Winner in Past Three Years
SAN DIEGO - For the second time in three years, a Thomas Jefferson School of Law student has won the highly prestigious Burton Award For Legal Achievement. Anne Knight is one of only 15 law students selected from law schools all over the country each year for their excellence in legal writing
What makes this even more of an honor is that TJSL is the only law school in San Diego that has ever fielded a Burton Award winner. In fact, the only other laws schools in California that previously have had a Burton Award winner are Stanford, Chapman and Golden Gate. Knight is being honored along with winning students from Yale, Columbia, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, Michigan law schools, among others. Also, Thomas Jefferson is the only California law school to have a Burton Award winner in 2008.
The Burton Award for Legal Achievement was founded in 1999 to recognize effective legal writing and is considered one of the most coveted award programs in law. The program operates in association with the Library of Congress and honors not only law students, but also partners in law firms who use "plain, clear and concise language in their legal writings and avoid archaic, stilted legalese."
Knight was selected on the basis of her Note Striking the Balance Between Anti-Discrimination Laws and First Amendment Freedoms: An Alternative Proposal to Preserve Diversity published in the latest issue of Thomas Jefferson Law Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, p. 249 (Fall 2007).
According to Professor Bryan Wildenthal, "Ms. Knight's Law Review Note provides a thoughtful and sophisticated analysis of the free speech and anti-discrimination issues involved in recognition of campus student organizations whose philosophies involve some type of disapproval or exclusion relating to sexual orientation. Beyond that, her Note points out some pragmatic and workable solutions to this issue, which is currently the subject of several lawsuits and has vexed schools and universities around the country."
Knight, a third year student who is graduating in May 2008, has been invited to the ninth Burton Awards anniversary event at the Library of Congress on June 16, 2008, where Associate Justice Gerald Breyer will be the guest speaker
"The School of Law is honored to have one of our students receive the Burton Award for excellence in writing," said Thomas Jefferson Dean Rudy Hasl. "It reflects the quality of our students and of the academic program that has enabled them to excel. "
"It was definitely quite a surprise, but I'm really excited," said Knight. "This paper was a pleasure to write as the topic was very dear to my heart. I'm extremely grateful to all the people who have offered me valuable feedback and insight throughout the writing process - thanks to everyone!"
Thomas Jefferson's Jennifer Siverts was a Burton Award winner in 2006 for her Note .Punishing Thoughts Too Close To Reality: A New Solution to Protect Children From Pedophiles, which was published in the Thomas Jefferson Law Review in the Spring of 2005.
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