Fordham-Stein Prize

Prize recipients exemplify outstanding professional conduct; promote the advancement of justice; and bring credit to the profession by emphasizing in the public mind the contributions of lawyers to our society and to our democratic system of government.

From its inception, the winners of the Prize have been men and women with distinguished careers who reflect a profound commitment to the public good. Past winners include nine Supreme Court Justices; four former United States Attorneys General; three former Secretaries of State; and leaders of the bench and bar.

  • 1976 Henry J. Friendly
    1977 Edward H. Levi
    1978 Warren E. Burger
    1979 Wade H. McCree, Jr.
    1980 Archibald Cox
    1981 Warren M. Christopher
    1982 William H. Webster
    1983 Potter Stewart
    1984 Edward Weinfeld
    1985 Edward Bennett Williams
    1986 Shirley M. Hufstedler
    1987 Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
    1988 Robert M. Morgenthau
    1989 Marian Wright Edelman
    1990 William Hughes Mulligan
    1991 William P. Rogers
    1992 Sandra Day O'Connor
    1993 Cyrus Vance
    1994 Milton Pollack
    1995 Lloyd N. Cutler
    1996 Gerald Bard Tjoflat
    1997 Charles Alan Wright
    1998 George J. Mitchell
    1999 William H. Rehnquist
    2000 William T. Coleman, Jr.
    2001 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    2002 Judith S. Kaye
    2003 John D. Feerick
    2004 Patricia M. Wald
    2005 Griffin B. Bell
    2006 Joseph M. McLaughlin
    2007 Robert B. Fiske, Jr.
    2008 Stephen G. Breyer
    2009 John F. Keenan
    2010 Theodore B. Olson
    2011 Kenneth Feinberg
    2012 not awarded due to Hurricane Sandy
    2013 Jack B. Weinstein
    2014 Mary Jo White
    2015 Eric H. Holder, Jr.
    2016 Guido Calabresi
    2017 Anthony Kennedy
    2018 Elena Kagan
    2019 Barbara D. Underwood
    2020 not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic
    2021 Robert A. Katzmann
    2022 Kenneth C. Frazier
    2023 Sherrilyn Ifill