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Joseph Kimble, Cooley Law School Professor Emeritus, Receives Prestigious Burton Award for Third Time

Joseph Kimble, Cooley Law School Professor Emeritus, Receives Prestigious Burton Award for Third Time

WASHINGTON D.C. – Cooley Law School Professor Emeritus Joseph Kimble was honored with the 2026 Burton Award for Book of the Year on Legal Writing for the book, “Essentials for Drafting Clear Legal Rules.” He co-authored the book with Bryan A. Garner, distinguished research professor at SMU Dedman School of Law. The awards ceremony was held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on June 1. This marks the third time that Kimble has received the prestigious Burton Award. He previously won Burton Awards for Reform in Law in 2007 and 2011 for his work in helping to completely redraft the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Burton Award for Book of the Year on Legal Writing recognizes outstanding contributions to the clarity, precision, and effectiveness of legal communication. “Essentials for Drafting Clear Legal Rules,” in the words of the presenter, “exemplifies the highest standards of legal writing and provides invaluable guidance to practitioners, judges, and scholars alike. This book has made a lasting impact on the way legal rules are crafted, promoting clarity, consistency, and accessibility across the profession. The authors’ work has helped shape modern legal drafting.” “In some ways, this book has been 30 years in the making because it reflects the work that Bryan and I have done in helping to restyle all five sets of federal court rules,” said Kimble. “The guidelines and techniques that we applied throughout are captured in this book. It’s all about the ways to achieve clarity — 90 or so guidelines and techniques, and something like 250 before-and-after examples. And we decided to make the book available for free online. We’re trying to change the way that lawyers draft, and the book is already being used in some law schools.” Established in 1999, the Burton Awards is a national, nonprofit program that recognizes the highest standard of excellence in law. Its principal focus is on effective legal writing. The winners range across the legal profession: jurists, practitioners, lawyers in the military and the executive branch, and law-school professors. Judges for the awards include professors, members of law firms, and other outstanding leaders in law. Each year, the guests at the ceremony include federal-court judges, general counsel from the finest corporations, officers in the military, law-school deans and professors, and partners in the largest and most prestigious law firms. Photo: Joseph Kimble, professor emeritus, Cooley Law School, receives the 2026 Burton Award for Book of the Year on Legal Writing for the book, “Essentials for Drafting Clear Legal Rules,” during the Burton Awards ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on June 1.

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    Cooley Law School Distinguished Professor Emeritus Retired Brigadier General Michael McDaniel Honored by Center for Homeland Defense and Security

    Cooley Law School Distinguished Professor Emeritus Retired Brigadier General Michael McDaniel Honored by Center for Homeland Defense and Security

    LANSING, Mich. – Cooley Law School Distinguished Professor Emeritus Retired Brigadier General Michael McDaniel was honored by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security Naval Postgraduate School for his commitment to homeland security education. McDaniel received the Christopher Bellavita Educator Award during the 2026 CHDS Alumni Professional Exchange Continuing Education Workshop in February. Named after Christopher Bellavita, former CHDS director of academic programs who was instrumental in developing the Master's program, the award recognizes individuals for innovation in advancing the homeland defense and security mission and is a distinction within the CHDS at the Naval Postgraduate School. McDaniel, who retired from Cooley in 2025, served the law school as professor, dean and director of Cooley’s Homeland and National Security Law LL.M. Program for 13 years. As a former state Homeland Security Advisor and member of Michigan’s National Guard, he was named co-chair of the state's task force on terrorism by Governor John Engler and Attorney General Jennifer Granholm following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Additionally, McDaniel’s leadership and homeland security knowledge was paramount in the Flint Water Crisis, as well as helping Lansing restore power to 96,000 residents – 40 percent of Lansing’s Board of Water and Light's customers – who had been without power for 11 days following a massive ice storm in 2013.

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    Cooley Law School Research-and-Writing Faculty Publish New Books

    Cooley Law School Professors Brad Charles and Mark Cooney and Emeritus Professor Joseph Kimble recently published new books about skill building, clear drafting, and the importance of writing in practice, reflecting Cooley's longstanding commitment to practical skills, plain language, and clear communication. The three professors, who are multi-book authors, “have always been active writers, and we each wanted to offer something new and helpful to students and lawyers,” said Charles. Charles's textbook, “Legal Analysis Writing Skills,” is a comprehensive how-to guide for new legal writers. His overriding message to students is that they’re learning skills – not documents – which are transferable to all legal documents, from appellate briefs to correspondence and exam essays. Cooney’s “The Case for Effective Legal Writing,” coauthored by University of Arizona Professor Diana Simon, is the first of its kind: a legal-writing casebook. The book gathers cases from across the nation in which the quality of a lawyer's writing affected the case's outcome or a court's resolution of an issue. Kimble's latest book, “Essentials for Drafting Clear Legal Rules,” is a long-awaited collaboration with Bryan Garner. It captures the authors’ decades of work restyling all five sets of federal court rules. The book is a trove of advice and examples on legal drafting, and it will be invaluable to all lawyers, especially legislative drafters, rule drafters, and transactional attorneys. The book is available for free at the U.S. Courts website. Cooley Law School was one of the first law schools to recognize that mastery of research techniques and writing skills is as important as mastery of torts, contracts, and property law. Cooley is also home to the Kimble Center for Legal Drafting, an academic and public-service center with a board of internationally renowned advisors.

  • Cooley Law School Associate Dean, Graduates Named to Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly Hall of Fame 2025 Class
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    Tonya Krause-Phelan, Cooley Law School associate dean of academics and professor, has been named to the Michigan Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame Class of 2025. In addition to Krause-Phelan, Cooley Law School graduates Karl Numinen (1992) and Rebecca Walsh (1991) were also named to this year’s Hall of Fame class.