Legal Scholar Robert G. Lawson Awarded Medallion for Intellectual Achievement University of Kentucky Libraries has awarded the 2020 UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement to Emeritus Professor of Law Robert G. Lawson, a nationally recognized scholar on criminal law and the individual responsible for drafting the state’s laws on crime and punishment. Created in 1990 and considered one of UK’s most prestigious awards, the medallion honors a Kentucky resident whose accomplishments represent the pinnacle of education and creative thought in the fields of science, literature, art and philanthropy. Medallion recipients are determined by the UK Libraries National Advisory Board after receiving nominations from the public. Past recipients include John Anthony, Wendell Berry, James Still, Bobbie Ann Mason, Thomas D. Clark, Dr. Laman A. Gray Jr., Guy Davenport, George C. Herring, Adalin Wichman, John Egerton, Karl Raitz, George Wright, James C. Klotter, Dr. F. Douglas Scutchfield, Everett McCorvey and Robert K. Wallace. “I am so proud that the University of Kentucky Libraries recognizes the intellectual and creative contributions of Kentuckians, and there is no finer example of the dedication, scholarship, and service the award was designed to honor than Professor Lawson’s body of work. He has shaped the Commonwealth’s thinking on criminal law and evidence, educated generations of legal scholars and leaders, and is continuing the work of advancing the lives of others through his efforts to reform the state’s prisons and jails,” Dean of Libraries Doug Way said. Robert G. Lawson received his bachelor’s degree from Berea College in 1960 and his juris doctor from the University of Kentucky in 1963. He has been a faculty member of the College of Law (now the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law) since 1966, with two periods of service as dean: 1971-73 and 198288. From 1994-96, he served as special assistant to the University of Kentucky president. Lawson’s exemplary contributions to the study and practice of law have been recognized throughout his career. He received the University of Kentucky Great Teacher Award in 1971 and again in 2001. He also received the Outstanding Professor Award in 2001, which is granted each year to one professor from the state’s several public universities by the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education.
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So I am left to say thanks to the UK Libraries for this most special award and to let everyone know that I am overwhelmingly honored to hold in my possession the Medallion for Intellectual Achievement.” Robert G. Lawson
In 1978, he received the first ever Law Alumni Professorship, and in 1981, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Kentucky College of Law Alumni Association. He was elected to the College of Law Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 1996. The Kentucky Bar Association recognized his accomplishments in 1998 with the Kentucky Bar Center Award, and again in 2010 with the Kentucky Bar Association Outstanding Lawyer of the Year Award. He has also received multiple Best Scholarship in Kentucky Law Journal awards (1999, 2000, 2005 and 2007). On March 11, 2015, the Kentucky Senate honored Lawson with a resolution in recognition of his retirement from the University of Kentucky College of Law. “Professor Bob Lawson is the epitome of a scholar whose focus is on advancing the lives of others. Through his legal scholarship in the fields of criminal law and evidence, he has educated generations of our Commonwealth’s great lawyers and leaders. Through his books about legal events that have a wider audience, he has expanded the
