News - April 2007

National antitrust prize goes to Michigan Law student
April 25, 2007

Second-year Michigan Law student Oliver Zhong took home a William E. Swope Antitrust Prize April 17 after his paper was one of three from across the nation honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Zhong’s paper – “The Failing Company Defense After The Commentary: Let It Go” – was awarded an honorable mention in the contest. A $1,500 prize accompanies the award. Zhong, from Austin, Texas, earned an undergraduate law degree in China and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin.

The contest is designed to recognize young lawyers who prove adept at analyzing antitrust issues and is open only to law students and recent graduates. The deadline for next year’s entries is Dec. 31. More information and complete contest rules are is available on Jones Day’s website at www.jonesday.com/swope/.

The annual William E. Swope competition is sponsored by the Jones Day law firm which, with 30 locations and more than 2,200 lawyers around the globe, is one of the largest in the world. The award dates back to 2005 and is named for a former Justice Department antitrust official – and later Jones Day partner – whose uncanny analytical ability allowed him to clarify even the most complex functions of real-world markets.

Bruce Frier receives Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award
April 23, 2007

Bruce W. Frier, Henry King Ransom Professor of Law and Frank O. Copley Collegiate Professor of Classics and Roman Law, was recently named recipient of the University of Michigan's Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award. Named in honor of Dean Emeritus of the School of Social Work, the award was established in 1996 to recognize faculty whose service contributes to the development of a culturally and ethnically diverse campus community. The award is made on the basis of a faculty member's:

• Commitment to diversity as an important part of the University’s educational mission
• Public and/or academically oriented endeavors that demonstrate intellectual excellence and commitment to cultural diversity in service, teaching, scholarship, and/or creative activity
• Efforts to increase diversity within one’s academic unit and/or the University
• Efforts to use scholarly and/or creative work to enhance the success of students and faculty of diverse cultural and racial backgrounds
• Willingness to serve as a mentor to students
• Efforts to bring about equity in our society

Bruce Frier is the author of numerous books and articles on economic and social history, focusing especially on Roman law. His publications include Landlords and Tenants in Imperial Rome, The Rise of the Roman Jurists, A Casebook on the Roman Law of Delict, A Casebook on Roman Family Law, and most recently, The Modern Law of Contracts with Law faculty colleague J.J. White. In addition to his Law School professorship, in 2001-2002 he served as the interim chair for the Department of Classical Studies at U-M and holds a joint appointment in that department; he is also a member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Frier received a B.A. from Trinity College and a Ph.D. in classics from Princeton University. He was a fellow of the American Academy in Rome and taught at Bryn Mawr College before joining the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan in 1969; he has taught at the Law School since 1981.

David Westin, J.D. '77, President of ABC News, to speak at Law School commencement
April 23, 2007

Evan Caminker, Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, today announced that distinguished alumnus David Westin, President of ABC News, will deliver the invitational address for the School’s May 5^th Commencement ceremonies, known as Senior Day.

In addition to being a friend and 1977 summa cum laude graduate of Michigan Law, graduate of U-M with honors and distinction, and graduate of Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School, Westin epitomizes the “local boy made good” paradigm. Following law school, he clerked for The Honorable J. Edward Lumbard of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1977-78, after which he clerked for The Honorable Justice Lewis F. Powell of the United States Supreme Court during the 1978 term.

He joined Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in 1979, worked in the firm’s London office in 1982-83, and was named partner in 1985. In 1991, he joined Capital Cities/ABC as VP and General Counsel and was responsible for all legal affairs including labor and government relations. Just two years later, he was promoted to president, production, of the ABC Television Group and in 1994, promoted once again to President of the ABC Television Network – a role in which he was responsible for all divisions and program units including ABC News, Sports, Entertainment, Daytime, Early Morning, Children’s, and Late-Night areas, as well as sales, marketing, research and affiliate units, broadcast operations, and engineering and network communications.

Successfully managing that enormous portfolio, Mr. Westin was named President of ABC News on March 6, 1997. His current and equally numerous responsibilities include World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America, and multiple others, including a groundbreaking new multi-media news channel.

Westin sits on the boards of The Associated Press and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, has taught as an adjunct law professor at Harvard and Georgetown, and is co-author of “International Civil Litigation in U.S. Courts and International Law Treatise.”

Senior Day celebration begins at 2:00 pm at Hill Auditorium and concludes at 4:00 pm.

Robert Borton Receives ABA 2007 Pro Bono Award
April 17, 2007

Robert E. Borton, a shareholder at Heller Ehrman LLP who is based in the firm’s San Francisco office, has been selected as one of three attorneys in the U.S. to receive the 2007 Pro Bono Publico Award from the American Bar Association (ABA).

The Pro Bono Publico Award, presented by the ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, honors individual lawyers, law firms, government attorney offices, corporate law departments and other institutions in the legal profession that have enhanced the human dignity of others by improving or delivering volunteer legal services to our nation’s poor and disadvantaged.

Borton is the past chair of Heller Ehrman’s firmwide Pro Bono Committee and a member of the San Francisco Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.  He serves on the Board of the San Francisco Legal Aid Society and he is a past member of the Board of the Bar Association of San Francisco, and of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.  As a member of the firm’s Litigation Department,  he has represented commercial banks and other major corporations in complex litigation, including class actions involving bank service charges, consumer services, consumer products advertising, and price/contract unconscionability.  He has tried numerous jury and court cases, in both state and federal court, including cases involving commercial real estate sale and broker disputes, construction defects, banking practices and retail operations, negotiable instruments, and civil rights claims.

In addition to his pro bono work and practice, Borton has mentored associates throughout his career, both through the firm’s pro bono practice and as the shareholder responsible for training of litigation associates at the firm. He has supervised young lawyers in hundreds of cases, including over 500 cases through the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.  For many years, he has opened Heller Ehrman's litigation and trial advocacy training programs to young legal services lawyers practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He is a long-time adjunct faculty member at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California.

Borton has won a number of pro bono awards, including the State Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award (1987), the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Robert Sproul Pro Bono Award (1990), The San Francisco Bar Association Award of Merit (1992), the San Francisco Legal Aid Society’s Roll Call for Justice Award (2002), the Opening Doors to Justice Award from the Public Interest Clearinghouse (2004) and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s Phillip Burton Civil Rights Lawyering Award (2006).  He was recognized by the San Francisco Bar Association as an Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service in 1997, 2002, 2004 and 2006.  In 1997, he was the recipient of the Richard E. Guggenhime Award (Heller Ehrman’s award for Pro Bono service to the community).

Since Heller Ehrman's founding in 1890, the firm has been committed to providing legal services to the disadvantaged and communities in need.  Heller Ehrman LLP was recently named as one of four firms in the U.S. to receive the National Law Journal’s 2006 Pro Bono award.

Olin L. Browder, Jr. S.J.D. '41, James V. Campbell Professor Emeritus of Law, dies at 94
April 16, 2007

The Law School is saddened to announce the April 11^th death of Olin Browder, friend, colleague, and teacher, who served Michigan Law with distinction from 1953 to 1984, after which he assumed emeritus status. Professor Browder received his A.B. and LL.B. from the University of Illinois. He then practiced law in Chicago, served as an attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1942-43, and was an F.B.I. special agent from 1943 – 1946. Prior to Michigan, he also taught at the University of Tennessee and the University of Oklahoma. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Order of the Coif. From 1966 – 1971 Browder chaired the ABA’s Committee on Rules Against Perpetuities. His works include American Law of Property (1952), Family Property Transactions (1965, 3^rd edition 1980), Basic Property Law (1966, 5^th edition 1989), and Palmer’s Cases on Trusts and Succession (4^th edition 1983). Professor Browder is survived by his wife and a daughter. Memorial services will be held April 25^th at 3:00 pm, at the First Presbyterian Church, 1432 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI.

For a more detailed appreciation of Professor Browder, please see: http://law40.adsroot.itcs.umich.edu/michiganlaw/newsandinfo/pdf/OlinBrowder.pdf

New clinical opportunity allows Michigan Law students to support Workers Center
April 12, 2007

A new workers rights concentration in the University of Michigan Law School’s General Clinic Program, taught by Clinical Law Professor Alicia Alvarez, provides hands-on opportunities for students to support the newly-incorporated Washtenaw County Workers Center (WCWC) – a non-profit bringing together low-wage and immigrant workers, university faculty, staff, and students, and community supporters.  Like the growing number of over 130 workers centers around the country, WCWC is a locally-based organization that combines legal services, advocacy, and organizing to promote the interests of low-wage workers.  For law students such as 2L Joshua Ludmir (Harvard University, Newport Beach, CA) and 1L Mustafa Unlu (Swarthmore College, Istanbul, Turkey), the clinical concentration makes it possible to hone three fundamental skills necessary for future attorneys:  performing legal research, analyzing legal doctrine, and doing “house calls.” 

Through this innovative clinic program with the WCWC, law students will have the opportunity to develop advocacy strategies that integrate legal and collective actions.  “Imagine if you tried to build a house with just a hammer,” says Professor Alvarez.  “Law students who work with the WCWC will learn how law can be used as one tool in combination with other strategies to gain more effective results for clients and communities.” An example is that individuals with workplace problems who come to the WCWC meet with an advocate and an organizer, as well as have the option to attend a monthly workers rights committee meeting. 

Shortly, UM faculty, staff and students will be volunteering to support the WCWC on its latest project – a survey of the working conditions of low-wage workers in Washtenaw County funded through Sociological Initiatives Foundation.  Future lawyers are learning valuable lessons both in the classroom and the community.  “Low-wage workers in Washtenaw County face many injustices – unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, harassment.  It has meant so much to be a part of a larger community response to these injustices,” said Joshua Ludmir.  Looking back on his first year, Mustafa Unlu reflected that “My experiences at the WCWC have been among the most memorable I have had at the law school.” 

Key individuals from Michigan Law involved in the WCWC include: 3L Jennifer Hill (Bryn Mawr College, Oak Ridge, TN) who was awarded a nationally prestigious Skadden Fellowship to start an employment law project at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center after graduation; 2L Claire Antonelli (UC Berkeley, Washington DC), who was with the Peace Corps prior to law school and also worked on human trafficking issues; 2L Sarah Donaldson (Yale, Birmingham, AL), who worked in China prior to Michigan Law and is a veteran of the school’s program for Cambodian Law and Development; and as previously noted, 2L Josh Ludmir, who worked in immigrant rights this past summer, and 1L Mustafa Unlu, who was awarded a Peggy Browning Fellowship for workers rights advocacy in Pittsburgh.  Assisting the students are University of Michigan Law School Clinical Professor Alicia Alvarez, and Minsu Longiaru, a staff attorney with the Law School’s Poverty Law Outreach Program.

Avi-Yonah named chair of ABA committee on VAT and consumption taxes
April 12, 2007

Reuven Avi-Yonah, Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, was recently appointed Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Value Added Tax and Other Consumption Taxes for a two-year term beginning July, 2007. In the words of Stanley L. Blend, Chair-Elect, Section on Taxation, the appointment reflects "a recognition by your peers of your abilities and contributions to the work of the Section."

Avi-Yonah specializes in international taxation and international law, and is widely published in these subject areas. He also served as consultant to the U.S. Treasury on tax competition and OECD on tax competition, and is a member of the Steering Group of the OECD's International Network for Tax Research and newly-elected chair of the American Bar Association's Tax Section Committee on Consumption Taxes. Professor Avi-Yonah earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from Hebrew University and three degrees from Harvard: an A.M. in history, a Ph.D. in history, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Michigan, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania and has served as an assistant professor of law at Harvard and as an assistant professor of history at Boston College. Professor Avi-Yonah has practiced law with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, New York; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York; and Ropes & Gray, Boston. His teaching interests focus on various aspects of taxation and international law.

Jennifer Hill named Michigan Law's 19th Skadden Fellow
April 11, 2007

Third-year law student Jennifer Hill was recently awarded a Skadden Fellowship to pursue her interest in practicing public service law. This nationally prestigious award will help support Hill’s career in public service which begins following graduation when she joins the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami. The Center’s mission focuses on direct representation and impact litigation for low-income workers experiencing workplace violations in the condominium, condo-hotel, and hotel industry in South Florida.

Since the Fellowship’s inception in 1988, 19 Michigan Law students have become Skadden Fellows. This year’s class includes 30 law students from, in addition to the University of Michigan Law School, Harvard, NYU, Stanford, Columbia, and 14 others. The Skadden Fellowships were established to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of this major law firm. Recipients – highly talented and public-service committed law school graduates – receive a salary and financial coverage of the fringe benefits offered by their sponsoring organization.

Jennifer Hill, from Oak Ridge, TN, is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds a Master’s Degree from George Washington University. Prior to her arrival at Michigan Law, she worked extensively in labor organization and labor rights. While at Michigan, Jennifer has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including: Darrow Scholar, American Association of University Women Fellow, Center for the Education of Women Fellow, Dean’s Public Interest Fellowship, Ted St. Antoine Scholarship, Women’s Law Association of Michigan General Motors Award Scholar, Robert S. Feldman Labor Law Award, and Jane L. Mixer Award.

According to Jennifer Hill “I'm thrilled to get the Skadden Fellowship, which allows me to do my dream job -- help start a project to raise standards in the service sector by fighting to enforce workers' rights. Given the economic changes taking place in the world, it is important to make sure that people providing services in hotels, condominiums, and restaurants have stable, middle class jobs.”

Jim Hathaway wins American Society of International Law 2007 Book Award
April 10, 2007

The American Society of International Law (ASIL) recently announced that Jim Hathaway is a recipient of their 2007 book awards for his The Rights of Refugees under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2005). The citation for Hathaway’s book reads: “For a work exhibiting high technical craftsmanship and of high utility to practicing lawyers and scholars.”  Other awardees include Oren Gross and Fionnuala Ni Aolain for Law in Times of Crisis: Emergency Powers in Theory and Practice and William A. Schabas for The UN International Criminal Tribunals: The Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. According to ASIL Executive Director Elizabeth Anderson, “The scholarship and ideas contained in these exceptional works make a significant contribution to our field, and I commend the books to students and professionals alike.”

James C. Hathaway, the James E. and Sarah A. Degan Professor at the University of Michigan, is a leading authority on international refugee law whose work is regularly cited by the most senior courts of the common law world. He is the founding director of the University of Michigan's Program in Refugee and Asylum Law, Senior Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University's Refugee Studies Programme, and President of the Cuenca Colloquium on International Refugee Law. Hathaway was previously Professor of Law and Associate Dean of the Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto), and has been appointed a visiting professor at the Universities of Cairo, California, Macerata, Melbourne, and Tokyo. He regularly provides training on refugee law to academic, non-governmental, and official audiences around the world.

Hathaway's publications include more than sixty journal articles, a leading treatise on the refugee definition (The Law of Refugee Status, 1991), an interdisciplinary study of models for refugee law reform (Reconceiving International Refugee Law, 1997) and, most recently, The Rights of Refugees under International Law (2005) – the first comprehensive analysis of the human rights of refugees set by the UN Refugee Convention, all linked to key international human rights norms and applied to the world’s most difficult protection challenges. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and of Asylum Access, a non-profit organization committed to delivering innovative legal aid to refugees in the global South. Hathaway also sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Refugee Studies and of the Immigration and Nationality Law Reports and directs the Refugee Caselaw Site (www.refugeecaselaw.org), a web site that collects, indexes, and publishes leading judgments on refugee law.

ASIL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1950. The mission of the 4,000-member society is to foster the study of international law and promote the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the basis of law and justice.

Law School announces externship program with major international organizations in Geneva
April 9, 2007

The University of Michigan Law School recently announced the development of semester-long externship opportunities with leading intergovernmental and non-governmental (NGO) institutions in Geneva beginning in winter 2008. The initial set of opportunities will be available at:

• The International Commission of Jurists
• Office of the Legal Advisor of the International Labour Organization
• The Department of International Migration Law and Legal Affairs of the International Organization for Migration
• The International Service for Human Rights
• International Telecommunication Union 
• TRIAL (Track Impunity Always – Swiss Association Against Impunity)
• The U.S. Diplomatic Mission to the UN in Geneva
• Office of the Legal Counsel of the World Health Organization
• The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Developed by Professors Steven Ratner, Robert Howse, and others, these externships further expand and enrich the School’s extensive curriculum in international and foreign law, and will make it possible for Michigan Law students to complement their coursework by engaging in legal work with agencies grappling with the most challenging international problems and legal issues of the day. Building on courses taken at the Law School, students will be immersed in the work of these international institutions and closely supervised by their legal staffs.

Further information is available from Virginia Gordan, Assistant Dean for International Affairs.

Amsterdam study abroad opportunity announced by Virginia Gordan
April 6, 2007

The University of Michigan Law School has developed a new semester study abroad opportunity with the Amsterdam Law School, which can accommodate up to four students each academic year beginning in fall 2007. Students may attend either semester, although fall is preferable for curricular and scheduling reasons. The language of instruction is in English.

Michigan Law students will participate in the exchange program through Amsterdam Law School which is part of the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam, one of Europe's excellent universities. Located in the heart of one of the world's most dynamic and enjoyable cities, Amsterdam is easily reachable by train and air from cities throughout Europe and the world.

For students interested in being at Amsterdam either in fall 2007 or in winter 2008, the deadline for applying is March 21, 2007. For students interested in studying abroad thereafter, the deadline will be the same end of January deadline which exists for other study abroad opportunities. Interested students must comply with the General Guidelines for Semester Legal Studies Abroad.

Students will be able to choose from a selection of classes offered at the LL.M. level. The classes are quite various, with a focus in the fields of advanced European Union Law and public international law.  We have been advised that the courses in European contract law and Comparative law are conducive to exposing students to how civil lawyers think.

Since Michigan students will enroll in LL.M. classes, if they wish to take European law classes, Amsterdam will expect either that they will have successfully completed  EU law at Michigan or they will be required to take an introduction to EU class (M 1910) concurrently with other classes at Amsterdam.  If Michigan students wish to take advanced international law classes, they will be expected to have taken public international law at Michigan or to take concurrently the introduction to public international law class (M 2510) at Amsterdam.  These introductory classes are offered only in the fall term. Amsterdam is willing to review the syllabus for transnational law of each Michigan student to see whether there is a sufficient public international law component in the particular TNL section of the student to meet the prerequisite.

Amsterdam Law School curricular offerings are available:

The website for the exchange programs is: http://www.jur.uva.nl/als/object.cfm/objectid=9ED45502-4C74-45FC-A23B2276C9A7E99C, and more information about the University and Amsterdam can be found on the following websites:
http://www.studeren.uva.nl/exchange_law  and the second one: http://www.jur.uva.nl/English/

Three new Fiske Fellows announced
April 5, 2007

MaryAnn Sarosi, Assistant Dean for Public Service, recently announced winners of Michigan Law’s Fiske Fellowships to financially support careers in public service. “This year’s winners are as always impressively talented and highly capable young lawyers,” said Sarosi, “and the variety of work within government that they have chosen to pursue reflects the kinds of careers Robert Fiske wants to support as well as the breadth of career choices one has graduating from Michigan Law.” Applicants are selected based on their demonstrated commitment to public service values, their academic achievements, and the nature and quality of their proposed government position. Winners receive debt repayment assistance on the full amount of all college and law school educational loans for the three-year duration of each fellowship, plus a $5000 first-year cash stipend.

This year’s Fiske recipients are Neil Beck, ’07, Thomas Ferrone, ’07, and Toni Gantz, ’06.

Neil Beck is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan and will also receive an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School in June, one month after receiving his Michigan Law J.D.

After his B.A., Beck worked at Deloitte as a business analyst and consultant, then as a research assistant on Asian strategic, economic, trade, and policy issues for the National Bureau of Asian Research in Seattle. At Michigan Law he participated in the International Law Society and China Law Society, advised the Michigan Journal of International Law on development of its symposium “State Intelligence Gathering and International Law,” and was a senior judge in the Legal Practice Program. Mr. Beck has accepted a position with the U.S. Government following graduation.

Tom Ferrone is a graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in both English and Mathematics and Computer Science. Prior to law school he taught for two years at the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School of Arts & Technology in New York. During his Michigan Law career, Ferrone served as Vice President and National Liaison of the American Constitution Student Society student chapter, was an Associate and Contributing Editor of the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, a quarterfinalist in the 2005-06 Campbell Moot Court Competition, Assistant Technical Editor of the Michigan Election Law Project, and an elementary school tutor in the VISTA program. Following graduation, Mr. Ferrone is seeking a post as a Legislative Assistant or Counsel in either the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate.

Toni Gantz received her B.S from Northwestern University where she majored in Theatre. Prior to law school she was a program coordinator at the Prevention Institute in Oakland, California, working on injury and violence prevention and community development. Her activities and achievements at Michigan Law include being editor of the Michigan Law Review, a student attorney in the Clinical Law Program, Co-chair and mentor in the Organization of Public Interest Students, a 1L tutor, and a member of the ACLU, American Constitution Society, and Michigan Health Law Organization. Her awards include the Dean’s Public Service Fellowship, George and Elizabeth Sperling Scholarship, and Student Funded Fellowship. After completing her clerkship in August 2007, Ms. Gantz will serve as Assistant Corporation Counsel in the New York City Law Department’s General Litigation Division.

Fiske Fellowships honor Robert B. Fiske, Jr., ’55, whose commitment to making public service a financially viable option for exceptional Michigan Law graduates was manifest in the generous gift he made for that purpose after 9/11. Fiske’s own career is a reflection of such commitment. Following graduation he joined Davis Polk & Wardwell – where he’s currently a senior partner – and two years thereafter interrupted his career to serve as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1976 he was appointed U.S. Attorney for that District by President Gerald R. Ford and served until 1980. In 1994 he was appointed the first Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation and he has more recently been Chairman of a Judicial Commission on Drugs and the Courts appointed by New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye. Mr. Fiske has additionally served as President of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the Federal Bar Council, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary of the American Bar Association, and Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Rebecca Scott's Degrees of Freedom earns fourth major award
April 3, 2007

Rebecca Scott’s Degrees of Freedom: Louisiana and Cuba After Slavery (Harvard University Press, 2005) was recently named winner of the 2005 Williams Prize awarded by The Historic New Orleans Collection and the Louisiana Historical Association. The Williams Prize – named for Kemper and Leila Williams, founders of The Historic New Orleans Collection – recognizes excellence in research and writing on Louisiana history. Recipients receive a cash award of $1500 and plaque.

Scott’s book has also been awarded the $25,000 Frederick Douglass Book prize from Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition; the Gulf South Historical Association’s annual book award; and the John Hope Franklin Prize by the American Studies Association, awarded for the best book of the year in the field of American Studies.

Rebecca J. Scott is the Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. She received an A.B. from Radcliffe College, an M. Phil. in economic history from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Professor Scott is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2004 received a Guggenheim fellowship.