The 2009 Thomas F. Blackwell Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Legal Writing was presented to Linda H. Edwards by the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute. The award was made by representatives of the two organizations at a reception held in San Diego on January 9, 2009.

Linda Edwards is the Macon Professor of Law at the Mercer University School of Law and Visiting Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has taught Legal Writing since 1987 and has long been active on the national scene.

Linda has served on the Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors and has chaired the Association of American Law Schools Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research. In 1998, 2000, and 2003, she co-sponsored the Notre Dame Colloquium on Legal Discourse. She has served as a facilitator for the Legal Writing Institute’s summer Writers’ Workshop. Linda also has been active in many AALS and ABA sections.

In addition to writing numerous articles, Linda has authored three books: Legal Writing: Process, Analysis, and Organization, Legal Writing and Analysis, and Estates in Land and Future Interests. Her fourth book, Briefs That Changed the World: Advanced Strategies in Legal Argument, was published in 2009.