Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, has been honored with the 2025 Outstanding Scholar Award from the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Chemerinsky will be recognized during the 69th Annual Fellows Awards Reception and Banquet, which will be held in Phoenix on February 1.
The Outstanding Scholar Award is given annually to an individual who has engaged in outstanding scholarship in law or government. This year, the ABF recognizes Chemerinsky for his commitment to the study of US constitutional law and civil procedure, as well as for his leadership at the University of California, Berkeley.
“Erwin Chemerinsky’s contributions to scholarship have wide-reaching impacts inside and outside academia,” said ABF Fellows National Chair Frank Neuner. “His work sets a high standard for scholars engaged with the legal community and with public discourse. It’s an honor to recognize Erwin Chemerinsky and his impeccable scholarship with this award.”
Prior to joining the faculty at Berkeley, Chemerinsky was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and the Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Chemerinsky was previously the Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University. He served as a Professor at the University of Southern California Law School, including as the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science. Chemerinsky also served as assistant professor at DePaul University.
Chemerinsky is the author of nineteen books, including leading casebooks and treatises about constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal jurisdiction. His most recent books are No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States (Liveright/Norton, 2024) and Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism (Yale University Press, 2022).
Chemerinsky is also the author of more than two hundred law review articles. He is a contributing writer for the opinion section of the Los Angeles Times, and writes regular columns for the Sacramento Bee, the ABA Journal, and the Daily Journal.
In 2016, Chemerinsky was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2024 and in 2014, the National Jurist named Chemerinsky as the most influential person in legal education in the United States. In 2022, he was the President of the Association of American Law Schools.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award from the American Bar Foundation,” said Chemerinsky. “As I look at those who have received this award before me, I feel I have been selected for a Hall of Fame. I have long so admired the work of the ABF and to receive this award is very special for me.”
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About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation.