Joan Sidney Howland of the University of Minnesota Law School is the 2021 recipient of the Robert J. Kutak Award, awarded by the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Established in 1984, the award is given annually to honor an individual that has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the academy, the bench, and the bar. Howland will be honored at an upcoming reception in conjunction with the Section’s Council Meeting.
“Dean Howland’s contributions to legal education have been immeasurable in every sphere of her involvement,” said Solomon Oliver Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and Section Nominating Committee Chair. “The Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has especially benefited from Joan’s wise counsel, astute observations, and diplomatic manner during her past service as Chair of the Section and during her current service as the Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates. She is also a quintessential professor, scholar, and law school administrator, and has used her legal and technological skills as one of the nation’s leading law librarians to assist leg al aid programs providing services to underrepresented groups. Joan Howland is richly deserving of the Kutak Award.”