Law School Announces 2026 Faculty Fellowships W&L Law Dean Melanie Wilson has announced the annual awards that recognize faculty members for their accomplishments as teachers and scholars and for service to the school.

By Law Communications
May 7, 2026

W&L Law Dean Melanie Wilson has announced the annual awards that recognize faculty members for their accomplishments as teachers and scholars and for service to the school.

Scholarship Fellowships

Professor Alex Klein and Professor Mark Drumbl received the Ethan Allen Faculty Fellowship for Outstanding Scholarship.

Professor Klein is the co-author of two criminal law/criminal procedure textbooks, including the Tenth Edition of Criminal Procedure (Carolina Academic Press 2025) and Criminal Law, Tenth Edition, (Carolina Academic Press forthcoming). She published two law review articles recently analyzing the Eighth Amendment, including: “Kennedy v. Louisiana and the Future of the Eighth Amendment” in the Pepperdine Law Review and “The Eighth Amendment’s Paper Tiger: Pain, Executions, and the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause” in the Northeastern University Law Review. She co-authored another article, “Certiorari Transparency,” in the Illinois Law Review this year, arguing that the Supreme Court should make public its certiorari determinations. She is also co-authoring a piece with W&L Law Professor Josh Fairfield on artificial intelligence and victim impact statements. In addition, she has presented her work on death penalty research and capital punishment widely, including as a panelist at the University of Richmond Law Review Symposium.

Professor Drumbl, the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor of Law and Director of the Transnational Law Institute, continued his prolific scholarly agenda this year. He co-authored and co-edited numerous books and articles, including, “The Character of International Law,” “The Tokyo International Military Tribunal: Another Sequel to a Prequel,” and “Children and Violence.” He also published two law review articles, including “The Lives of Fritz Haber and of International Law: Entwined Tales of Tragedy and Irony,” co-authored with Will Vardy ‘26L. His numerous ongoing projects include a book titled “There is a Light that Never Goes Out in a Child Soldier,” forthcoming this year from McGill/Queen’s University Press. Professor Drumbl also began a new role in 2025 as Editor-in-Chief of the International Criminal Law Review and recently gave the prestigious 2026 British Academy’s Maccabaean Lecture in Jurisprudence, entitled “Child Soldiers: Coming of Age in Atrocity.”

Teaching Fellowships

Legal writing professors Julie Schwartz, Heather Skeeles-Shiner, and Allison Weiss received the John W. Elrod Alumni Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.

“Professors Schwartz, Skeeles-Shiner, and Weiss spend extensive time with their students, providing them with significant and detailed feedback on their legal analysis and giving students multiple opportunities to write, rewrite, and edit letters, memoranda, and briefs,” said Dean Wilson. “They provide the foundation for every 1L to succeed throughout their law school experience and well beyond.”

W&L Law’s legal writing program was recently recognized for the first time as one of the Top 50 programs in the country by U.S. News.

Experiential Education

Professor Sarah Gottlieb and Professor Carrie Stanton received the Jessine Monaghan Experiential Education Fellowship for their efforts to evolve and enhance key student experiential opportunities.

Professor Gottlieb joined W&L Law in 2024 as director of the Criminal Justice Clinic. Through extensive outreach to the community, she developed new pipelines for criminal defense cases from the Staunton Public Defender’s office and other offices throughout the region, expanding student opportunities for real practice experience in criminal defense.

Professor Stanton, who joined the permanent faculty in 2025 after serving as a visiting assistant professor, is leading this year’s Transactional Immersion course. She reimagined and modernized the program, including adding preparation and education on professionalism and the effective use of artificial intelligence in transactional work, which will enrich summer internships and our students’ subsequent practice of law.

Dean’s Service Award

The Dean’s Service Award recognizes exceptional service to the law school and to the University community more broadly. Professor Shannon Fyfe and Professor Michelle Cosby are this year’s recipients.

Professor Fyfe joined W&L Law two years ago and immediately became an integral part of the community. She served on the Faculty Appointments Committee this year and on the University’s Employee Benefits Committee. She judged the Moot Court Board’s semi-final rounds of the mock trial competition and was a speaker during the Supreme Court Preview event co-hosted by the ACS and the Office of Career Strategy. Professor Fyfe also served as commentator for a Comparative Law Workshop hosted by Professor Russ Miller. She is a core faculty member in the Law, Justice, and Society program and enjoys a courtesy appointment in Philosophy. In addition, she supervises student research for student notes and for independent research projects.

Professor Cosby led the EPCC (Educational Policy and Curriculum Committee) again this year, working collaboratively to develop a new 1L course that will ensure students are knowledgeable about AI when they enter the workforce. She was a constant presence at important law school events, including both Admitted Students Days, Law Alumni Weekend, the meetings of the Law Council, and Field Day. Among many other activities, Professor Cosby led classes as part of the Community Wellness Initiative, presented during Pre-law Advisors Day, and taught a session during 2L Immersion. She also organized and co-hosted the Fall Scholarship Celebration of our faculty and student scholarship, all while mentoring law students with an interest in legal research. She also traveled nationally as part of an ABA site visit team, contributing to the broader law school community and enhancing the W&L Law brand nationally.

If you know a W&L faculty member who has done great, accolade-worthy things, tell us about them! Nominate them for an accolade.