Pictured are (left to right) Dean Leslie Kendrick, Professor A. E. Dick Howard and Council Chair Daniel R. Thies during the Robert J. Kutak Award reception in New Orleans.
(Photo courtesy of ABA)
By American Bar Association
A. E. Dick Howard, the recipient of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s 2025 Robert J. Kutak Award, was recognized for his contributions to legal education and the profession, during the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in New Orleans on Jan. 8.
“There are so many American lawyers who merit recognition,” said Howard, the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. “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.”
The award, established in 1984, annually honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the academy, the bench and the bar and is presented in memory of attorney Kutak, a distinguished Omaha lawyer, champion of legal reform and advocate for legal education.
Howard, a 1961 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is the law school’s Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law Emeritus. He is an expert in constitutional law, comparative constitutionalism and the U.S. Supreme Court, where he clerked for Justice Hugo L. Black after graduating from law school.
He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and served as executive director of the commission that wrote Virginia's new Constitution and directed the successful referendum campaign for ratification of that constitution. He has also briefed and argued cases before state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
Howard’s decades of achievement were noted by Kutak Award Committee Chair Gail B. Agrawal. “Professor Howard’s contributions to the law are significant and far-reaching,” she said. “As a foremost scholar in comparative constitutional law, he shaped the modern-day constitution of his home state of Virginia and contributed to the constitutions of nations beyond our borders.”
In addition to his professional expertise, Howard is the author of several books, articles and monographs, which include “The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America” and “Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia,” which won a Phi Beta Kappa prize. Other works include “Democracy's Dawn” and “Constitution-making in Central and Eastern Europe.”
To add to his growing list of achievements, Howard was named the 2025 Outstanding Virginian by the Virginia General Assembly.
Howard’s nominator for the Kutak Award, University of Virginia School of Law Dean Leslie Kendrick, said that “as a teacher and the longest serving professor at his alma mater, Professor Howard served as teacher and mentor to generations of students who became distinguished scholars and public servants, including among them 4th Circuit Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Michael Luttig.”
Kendrick added that Howard was a primary drafter and is the last living person who served on the committee to overhaul the Virginia constitution and make it what it is today.
“Professor Howard played a meaningful role in shaping the law as an advisor to elected state and federal officials, including to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. It is an honor to recognize Professor Howard’s contributions to the law, legal reform, legal education and the collaboration among the academy, the bench, and the bar with this award.”
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2026/02/ae-dick-howard-honored-with-kutak-award/)
A. E. Dick Howard, the recipient of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s 2025 Robert J. Kutak Award, was recognized for his contributions to legal education and the profession, during the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in New Orleans on Jan. 8.
“There are so many American lawyers who merit recognition,” said Howard, the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. “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.”
The award, established in 1984, annually honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the academy, the bench and the bar and is presented in memory of attorney Kutak, a distinguished Omaha lawyer, champion of legal reform and advocate for legal education.
Howard, a 1961 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is the law school’s Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law Emeritus. He is an expert in constitutional law, comparative constitutionalism and the U.S. Supreme Court, where he clerked for Justice Hugo L. Black after graduating from law school.
He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and served as executive director of the commission that wrote Virginia's new Constitution and directed the successful referendum campaign for ratification of that constitution. He has also briefed and argued cases before state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
Howard’s decades of achievement were noted by Kutak Award Committee Chair Gail B. Agrawal. “Professor Howard’s contributions to the law are significant and far-reaching,” she said. “As a foremost scholar in comparative constitutional law, he shaped the modern-day constitution of his home state of Virginia and contributed to the constitutions of nations beyond our borders.”
In addition to his professional expertise, Howard is the author of several books, articles and monographs, which include “The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America” and “Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia,” which won a Phi Beta Kappa prize. Other works include “Democracy's Dawn” and “Constitution-making in Central and Eastern Europe.”
To add to his growing list of achievements, Howard was named the 2025 Outstanding Virginian by the Virginia General Assembly.
Howard’s nominator for the Kutak Award, University of Virginia School of Law Dean Leslie Kendrick, said that “as a teacher and the longest serving professor at his alma mater, Professor Howard served as teacher and mentor to generations of students who became distinguished scholars and public servants, including among them 4th Circuit Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Michael Luttig.”
Kendrick added that Howard was a primary drafter and is the last living person who served on the committee to overhaul the Virginia constitution and make it what it is today.
“Professor Howard played a meaningful role in shaping the law as an advisor to elected state and federal officials, including to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. It is an honor to recognize Professor Howard’s contributions to the law, legal reform, legal education and the collaboration among the academy, the bench, and the bar with this award.”
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2026/02/ae-dick-howard-honored-with-kutak-award/)
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