W&L Law’s James Moliterno Receives the Virginia State Bar Leadership in Education Award

By Peter Jetton
March 14, 2017

James E. Moliterno, the Vincent Bradford Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law and an international expert on legal ethics, has been named the recipient of the William R. Rakes Leadership in Education Award from the Virginia State Bar Section on the Education of Lawyers in Virginia.

Moliterno has spent his career as a legal educator seeking ways to infuse experiential learning into legal education. He played a leadership role in developing W&L’s innovative practice-based curriculum, and prior to joining W&L, he was the architect of William and Mary law school’s award winning ethics, skills, and professionalism program.

Moliterno is an acknowledged international expert in legal ethics and professionalism, and has traveled throughout the world to help countries develop ethics policies and training programs. He participated in the USAID Rule of Law project in Serbia to establish legal skills training programs, and has worked with lawyers and judges in Serbia, Armenia, Georgia, Czech Republic, Japan, Indonesia, and China on ethics training.

“Professor Moliterno’s passion for improving the legal profession broadly and the ethical administration of law by lawyers and judges know no geographical bounds,” said Brant Hellwig, dean and professor of law at W&L. “I have admired and indeed have often been amazed at his unbridled passion not only for teaching students substantive law, but for doing so in a manner that will allow them to effectively and efficiently serve their clients in a professional and ethical manner.”

The awards Moliterno has received span his career. He was awarded the inaugural American Bar Association Gambrell Professionalism Award in 1991 for the best law school program for the teaching of ethics and professionalism. In 2012 he received the Rebuilding Justice Award from the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

The Rakes award was established in 2012 to honor former Virginia State Bar president and founder of the Section on the Education of Lawyers, William R. Rakes, a senior partner with the Roanoke firm of Gentry Locke.

The award, which is underwritten by Gentry Locke, is to be presented in June at the Virginia State Bar Annual Meeting in Virginia Beach.

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