University of Virginia School of Law professor emeritus A. E. Dick Howard ’61 has received the American Bar Association’s annual Robert J. Kutak Award for his impact on the legal field.
Established in 1984 by the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and the Kutak Rock law firm, the award honors an individual “who has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the academy, the bench, and the bar,” according to the ABA. Kutak, the award’s namesake, was an Omaha, Nebraska, lawyer who championed legal reform and advocated for legal education.
Howard will be presented with the award at an event that will soon be announced. The selection committee is composed of judges, deans and professors from around the country.
Howard is the Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law Emeritus and an expert on constitutional law, comparative constitutionalism and the U.S. Supreme Court, where he clerked for Justice Hugo L. Black after graduating from law school.
Howard served as executive director of the commission that wrote Virginia’s current constitution and directed the successful referendum campaign for its ratification. He has been counsel to the General Assembly and a consultant to both state and federal legislative bodies, including the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He also served as counselor to Virginia Gov. Charles Robb ’73 from 1982-86 and chaired Virginia’s Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution.
Howard’s work in public service was recognized earlier this year by the Virginia General Assembly when he received the 2025 Outstanding Virginian Award.
“Howard’s contributions to the law are significant and far-reaching,” Kutak Award Committee Chair Gail B. Agrawal said. “It is an honor to recognize [his] contributions to the law, legal reform, legal education, and the collaboration among the academy, the bench, and the bar with this award.”
A prolific author of legal scholarship, Howard has twice been a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and served as president of the Virginia Academy of Laureates.
Howard, who retired from teaching last year after a six-decade career at UVA Law, has also long been recognized for his contributions in the classroom.
He has received UVA’s Distinguished Professor Award for excellence in teaching and, in 1994, Washingtonian magazine named Howard one of the most respected educators in the nation. In 2013, UVA recognized him with its Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor given to faculty members at the University. In 2023, he was honored with the Virginia Bar Association’s most prestigious honor, the Gerald L. Baliles Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding service and contributions to the bar and public at large.
“I have had the privilege of being both Professor Howard’s student and his colleague for many years. He has influenced me as he has influenced generations of lawyers, by embodying the very best the legal profession can be,” said Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06, who nominated Howard for the award. “Indeed, still more Americans have learned from his decades of educational efforts and collaboration with attorneys and jurists. And innumerable peoples around the world have benefited from his tireless commitment to constitutionalism and the rule of law.
“He was the chief architect of the Virginia Constitution and is a living connection to the process that makes that document what it is today,” she added.
Howard expressed gratitude for his recognition by the ABA’s Kutak selection committee.
“They and I share a commitment to the role the rule of law plays in our constitutional democracy. There are so many American lawyers who merit recognition. In a real sense, the work I have done over the years simply echoes the efforts of others in our profession who have devoted themselves to the search for nurturing the better angels in American life,” Howard said.
“Moreover, I take the award to be a testimonial to professors and other mentors who, over the years, have brought me to where I am today. I wish I could have them step forward to share the award.”
Previous Kutak Award recipients who are UVA Law alumni include Ruth V. McGregor LL.M. ’98, former chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, and Rennard Strickland ’65 S.J.D. ’71, a pioneer in the movement for Native American rights and a legal historian who died in 2021.
https://www.law.virginia.edu/news/202505/aba-honors-professor-lifetime-work
