Martha Minow, the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard and former dean of Harvard Law School, received a prestigious 2025 Burton Award, The Hon. Robert A Katzmann Award for Academic Excellence, for her exemplary law career and her eight-year deanship at Harvard Law School.
Honoring a person of prodigious achievement and humanity, the award — named in honor of Robert A. Katzmann, a federal judge who served for 22 years on the Second Circuit, including as chief judge — is presented annually to a law school dean or professor who has brought added prominence and recognition to their academic institution.
On May 19, Minow was honored at a gala event at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with American broadcast journalist Ted Koppel serving as master of ceremonies. The program also included a performance by 16-time Grammy Award-winning composer and producer David Foster and Broadway star Katharine McPhee. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the Burton Award Program.
A faculty member at Harvard Law School since 1981 and its dean from 2009 to 2017, Minow teaches courses on topics such as constitutional law, international criminal law, and comparative AI governance. Her expertise spans from constitutional law, human rights, and legal responses to social and political conflict.
Minow has authored numerous influential books, including “Saving the News: Why the Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve the Freedom of Speech” (2021) and “When Should Law Forgive?” (2019).
She is a co-chair of the Access to Justice Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, chairs the MacArthur Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and serves on other philanthropic and nonprofit boards.
Her honors include lifetime achievement awards from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (2023) and the Women in Legal Education Section of the AALS (2024), as well as ten honorary degrees from educational institutions in three countries.
A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Minow has led initiatives such as Imagine Co-existence for the U.N. and projects to improve digital access for students with disabilities.
Her extensive board service includes organizations the Legal Services Corporation, public media GBH, and the Campaign Legal Center, along with past roles at Facing History and Ourselves, the Revson Foundation, and the CBS Corporation.
The Burton Awards Program, a national non-profit effort, is presented by lead sponsor Law360, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association and Sullivan & Cromwell, run in association with the Library of Congress.
William C. Burton, founder and chair of the Burton Awards, said, “Dean Minow has a special blend of knowledge, expertise, warmth and compassion for others. She is a true scholar and luminary whose lifetime of achievements is an example for everyone in the profession to emulate.”
William Treanor, executive vice president of Georgetown University, dean of Georgetown University Law Center, and co-chair of the Academic Excellence Committee, stated: “Martha Minow is a perfect selection for this great award. She is a superb scholar whose work has been profoundly influential in areas from education, civil rights, constitutional law, to human rights, and she has grappled with fundamental questions, such as forgiveness and the law. She is a brilliant teacher and was a dean whom we all looked to as a model for how to lead thoughtfully and with concern for others. She is a leader in fighting for access to justice and she has done great public service as Vice Chair of the Legal Services Corporation. Her career reflects the values that defined Chief Judge Katzmann’s historic career. But one of the things that was so inspiring to me about Bob Katzmann was that, with all his achievements, he remained kind and considerate in his dealings with everyone he met. Martha Minow is exactly the same. I know Bob Katzmann would have been delighted with her selection.”
The Burton Awards, established in 1999, honor the finest accomplishments in law, including writing, reform, public service and interest, regulatory innovation, and lifetime achievements in the profession.
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