Professor Edward R. Morrison, the Charles Evans Gerber Professor of Law and an expert in bankruptcy law and law and economics, will be awarded the 2018 Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching by members of the Class of 2018 at their graduation ceremony on May 14.

Morrison was thrilled to receive news of the award. “If I have done decent work as a teacher, it’s only because of the great mentors and students who have inspired me over the years,” he said. Morrison recalled that his mentor, University of Chicago Law Professor Douglas G. Baird, would devote two hours of prep time for every hour in the classroom, even after thirty years of teaching – and feel crestfallen if a lecture went poorly. Another mentor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom he clerked, reminded Morrison that a professor will likely have as much impact through teaching as through research. Students also have played a key role in his development as a teacher. Morrison once sat down with a Columbia Law School student and watched a video of himself teaching so that he could get feedback on his performance. 

“I learned this from another mentor, and my former boss, Judge Richard Posner: It’s important to be open to learning from those around you, including your students,” said Morrison, who clerked for Posner when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. 

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