Professor Lisa Benjamin is the 2022 Leo Levenson Award Recipient
Akriti Bhargava ’22 presented the coveted Leo Levenson Award for Excellence in Teaching to Professor Lisa Benjamin on behalf of the graduating class.
Professor Lisa Benjamin: Recipient of the Huffman Scholarship Award
Associate Professor Lisa Benjamin is the second recipient of the Huffman Scholarship Award, which recognizes outstanding faculty scholarship. Emeritus Dean and Professor of Law James Huffman endowed the award to be given annually to a faculty member based on scholarship written the year prior. The recipient is chosen by a faculty committee.
Professor Benjamin was selected for her paper The Road to Paris Runs Through Delaware: Climate Litigation and Directors’ Duties, which was published in the Utah Law Review in 2020.
Akriti, Professor Benjamin’s mentee, said, “The most valuable part of Professor Benjamin’s mentorship is her ability to bring light to the promise we each show as lawyers of the future. This award is a testament to the tireless work Professor Benjamin does to affirm and make better the experience of law school for so many students.”
Professor Benjamin spoke of the honor of receiving this award: “This is hands down the most important and meaningful award I have ever received in my career.”
Of the future promise of her students, she said, “I am often asked in my field: What makes you hopeful about climate change? My answer, always, is you. My students. Your generation has the passion, empathy, and perseverance to make things better, to make them right, and you inspire me daily.”
Leo Levenson (1903-1981), for whom this award is named, was a distinguished attorney, Oregon State Bar member, and highly respected instructor who taught at the law school for many years.
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