Professor A.E. Dick Howard, the longtime constitutional scholar at the University of Virginia law school, has been honored for his contributions to legal education with the 2025 Robert J. Kutak Award.

This honor is given by the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, recognizing an individual who has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the academy, the bench and the bar.

Howard received the award Jan. 8 at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in New Orleans.

The award, established in 1984, is presented in memory of a distinguished Omaha lawyer, Robert J. Kutak, who was a champion of legal reform and an advocate for legal education.

Howard, a 1961 graduate of the U.Va. law school, is the Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law Emeritus. He is an expert in constitutional law and the U.S. Supreme Court, where he clerked for Justice Hugo L. Black after graduating from law school.

He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. In 1968, Howard was tapped to serve as executive director of the commission that rewrote Virginia's Constitution and directed the successful referendum campaign for its ratification.

In addition to his professional expertise, Howard is the author of several books, articles and monographs, which include “The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America” and “Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia,” which won a Phi Beta Kappa prize. Other works include “Democracy's Dawn” and “Constitution-making in Central and Eastern Europe.”

He also has briefed and argued cases before state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court.

Howard’s nominator for the Kutak Award, U.Va. Law Dean Leslie Kendrick, said that “as a teacher and the longest-serving professor at his alma mater, Professor Howard served as teacher and mentor to generations of students who became distinguished scholars and public servants, including among them 4th Circuit Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Michael Luttig.”

Kendrick added that Howard was a primary drafter and is the last living person who served on the 1968 commission that overhauled the current Virginia Constitution.

“Professor Howard played a meaningful role in shaping the law as an advisor to elected state and federal officials, including to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. It is an honor to recognize Professor Howard’s contributions to the law, legal reform, legal education and the collaboration among the academy, the bench, and the bar with this award.”

Last year was a good year for Howard. The Virginia General Assembly each year names one person as an Outstanding Virginian; in 2025, Howard earned that honor.