Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award is given from time to time to a member who over many years has played a major role in the Institute as an institution, accepting significant burdens as an officer, Council member, committee chair, or project participant and helping keep the Institute on a steady course as the greatest private law-reform organization in the world.

Members who wish to propose a candidate are asked to submit to the Awards Committee's attention a letter containing a brief biography and describing the candidate's law-related activities and qualifications for the award in question. Letters should be mailed to The American Law Institute, Attn: Awards Committee, 4025 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, or emailed to awardnominations@ali.org.

Lance Liebman (2024)

Lance Liebman (Columbia Law School, ALI Director 1999-2014) is presented the Distinguished Service Award at the 2024 ALI Annual Meeting by Roberta Cooper Ramo (Modrall Sperling, ALI President 2008-2017).

Roberta Cooper Ramo (2023)

Roberta Cooper Ramo (Modrall) is presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 2023 ALI Annual Meeting by ALI Director Diane P. Wood (7th Cir.).

Steven O. Weise (2022)

Steven O. Weise (Proskauer Rose) is presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 2022 ALI Annual Meeting by ALI Director Richard L. Revesz.

Carol F. Lee (2019)

Carol F. Lee (Taconic Capital Advisors) is presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 2019 Annual Meeting by Raymond J. Lohier Jr. (2d Cir.). A transcript of the speech is available here.

Robert H. Mundheim (2015)

Robert H. Mundheim (Former General Counsel to the U.S. Treasury Department, and Former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School) is presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 2015 Annual Meeting by Lance Liebman (ALI Director 1999-2014). Introductory remarks are provided by ALI President Roberta Cooper Ramo (Modrall Sperling). A transcript of the speech is available here.

Gerhard Casper (2014)

U.S. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presents ALI's Distinguished Service Award to Gerhard Casper at the 2014 ALI Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. A transcript of the speech is available here.

Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr. (2013)

Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr. is presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 2013 Annual Meeting by Anthony J. Scirica (3rd Cir.), with introductory remarks from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. A transcript of the speech is available here.

Michael Traynor (2011)

Michael Traynor served as ALI’s eighth President from 2000 to 2008, taking office after the sudden death of Charles Alan Wright. He is a recipient of ALI’s Distinguished Service Award.

Traynor has been an ALI member since 1972 and was elected to the Council in 1985. He has served as an Adviser for several ALI projects, including Restatement Third of Unfair Competition, both the Projects Liability and Apportionment of Liability segments of Restatement Third of Torts, the 1988 Revisions to the Restatement Second of Conflict of Laws, Restatement Third of Restitution, Restatement Third of Conflict of Laws, and Restatement Fourth of the Foreign Relations Law (Jurisdiction).

Traynor received his B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He studied economics at Berkeley as an undergraduate and then law at Harvard. He served as a deputy attorney general in California before joining the law firm now known as Cooley Godward Kronish. At Cooley he engaged in a national litigation practice that has included major assignments concerning intellectual property, the First Amendment, and internal corporate investigations.

Roswell B. Perkins (2008)

As ALI’s sixth president, Roswell B. Perkins was a guiding force and a tremendous influence on the legacy of the Institute. During his presidency he played a leading role in the development of the Principles of Corporate Governance: Analysis and Recommendations. An ALI member since 1964, he served on numerous projects and committees. In recognition of his years of service, ALI presented him with the Distinguished Service Award in 2008.

Perkins, a native of Boston, received his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He retired from partnership in Debevoise & Plimpton in 2001, 52 years after joining the firm as an associate in 1949.

Bennett Boskey (2007)

ALI Council member Bennett Boskey served for more than three decades as ALI Treasurer. Additionally, Boskey served on numerous projects and committees, and rarely missed an Annual Meeting, but perhaps what he will always be most remembered for is the "Boskey Motion." This motion is made to approve a draft, or portions of a draft, by ALI’s Council (at a Council Meeting) or membership (at an Annual Meeting). A standard structure of the Boskey motion is: “I move we approve [draft] subject to today’s discussion and the usual editorial prerogatives.”

In other words, the members are asked to approve the draft, subject to any requested changes to which the Reporters agreed or any motions that passed during the course of the Meeting, as well as general, nonsubstantive edits that may be required before publishing.