Ronald Levin, JD, the William R. Orthwein Distinguished Professor of Law, has been elected to the American Law Institute (ALI), a national independent organization that focuses on producing scholarly work to clarify and modernize the law. Membership in the ALI is based on professional achievement and a demonstrated interest in improving the law.
Levin specializes in administrative law and related public law issues. He has testified before Congress on regulatory reform issues and published numerous articles and book chapters on administrative law topics, including judicial review, rulemaking, legislative reform of the regulatory process, the law of lobbying and legislative ethics. His co-authored books include a casebook, State and Federal Administrative Law, now in its third edition, and a student text, Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell, now in its fifth edition.
Levin has been active in the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice for more than three decades and served as its chair in 2000–01. In 2011, the section recognized Levin for his commitment to its work with the Chair’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. He also served as the ABA’s adviser to the drafting committee to revise the Model State Administrative Procedure Act. In addition, he is a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and currently chairs its Judicial Review Committee.
Levin joins a number of other Washington University law professors who are members of the ALI, including: Professors Susan Frelich Appleton (who also holds the office of secretary and serves on the ALI Council); Kathleen Brickey; Kathleen Clark; Michael Greenfield; Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff; Daniel Keating; Pauline Kim; Stephen Legomsky; Charles McManis; Kimberly Norwood; Laura Rosenbury; Leila Nadya Sadat; Hillary Sale; Dean Kent Syverud; and Dean Emeritus Dorsey D. Ellis Jr.
Founded in 1923, ALI produces influential Restatements of the Law, model statutes, and Principles of Law. Its publications are distributed widely and often are cited in court opinions. The organization defines its mission as “promoting the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs; securing the better administration of justice; and encouraging and carrying on scholarly and scientific legal work.”
ALI honors alumnus
The Hon. William H. Webster, JD ’49, will receive the ALI’s Henry J. Friendly Medal. One of the ALI’s highest honors, the medal is awarded periodically to individuals who have made significant contributions to the law.
The medal is named in honor of Judge Henry Friendly, a former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, who has been referred to as “the most powerful legal reasoner in American legal history.” Past recipients of the Friendly Medal include retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and the late New York University School of Law constitutional law scholar Ronald Dworkin.
A Washington University School of Law National Council member, Webster is a retired partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in Washington, D.C. He previously directed the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation; served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri; and was a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In addition, Webster served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in World War II and the Korean War. Among his many accolades are the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Security Medal. He currently serves as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Additionally, Washington University has presented Webster with an Alumni Citation for contributions to the field of law, the William Greenleaf Eliot Award, and an honorary degree. At the law school, he has received the Distinguished Law Alumni Award, and the Webster Society scholarship program for law students committed to public service is named in his honor.