Press Releases

Georgetown Law Graduate Wins 2007 Burton Award for Legal Achievement

June 5, 2007 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Jessica Powley Hayden, Georgetown Law Class of 2007, has won a 2007 Burton Award for Legal Achievement. She was selected for her paper, Mullahs On a Bus: The Establishment Clause and U.S. Foreign Aid. Hayden and 14 other winners from law schools around the country received their awards at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress on June 4.

Hayden is the fourth recipient from Georgetown Law to receive a Burton Award. Others include: Stephen Lessard, Georgetown Law Class of 2007, for his work, Playing the Economic Substance Trump Card: Black & Decker v. United States; Carrolle Kim, Georgetown Law Class of 2005, for her paper, Failing the Spirit of ERISA: Knolling v. American Power Conversion Corp.; and Mary Calkins, Georgetown Law Class of 2001, for her work, They Shoot Trojan Horses, Don't They? An Economic Analysis of Anti-Hacking Regulatory Models.

The awards were created by the Burton Foundation in 1999 to reward effective legal writing and honor attorneys and law students who use "plain, clear and concise language and avoid archaic, stilted legalese." The foundation was established by William C. Burton, a partner in the international law firm of D’Amato & Lynch, author of Burton’s Legal Thesaurus and an advocate of plain language and modernized legal writing. The award program is run in association with the Library of Congress Law Library.

Hayden received her J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown Law in May 2007, where she served as senior notes editor for the Georgetown Law Journal and participated in the Street Law Clinic and Institute for Public Representation. She plans to clerk for Judge Michael R. Murphy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.