Fordham-Stein Prize
The Fordham-Stein Prize is presented annually to a member of the legal profession whose work embodies the highest standards of the legal profession.
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.
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2025 – Denny Chin '78
2024 – Liz Cheney
2023 – Sherrilyn Ifill
2022 – Kenneth C. Frazier
2021 – Robert A. Katzmann
2020 – Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2019 – Barbara D. Underwood
2018 – Elena Kagan
2017 – Anthony Kennedy
2016 – Guido Calabresi
2015 – Eric H. Holder, Jr.
2014 – Mary Jo White
2013 – Jack B. Weinstein
2012 – Not awarded due to Hurricane Sandy
2011 – Kenneth Feinberg
2010 – Theodore B. Olson
2009 – John F. Keenan
2008 – Stephen G. Breyer
2007 – Robert B. Fiske, Jr.
2006 – Joseph M. McLaughlin
2005 – Griffin B. Bell
2004 – Patricia M. Wald
2003 – John D. Feerick
2002 – Judith S. Kaye
2001 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2000 – William T. Coleman, Jr.
1999 – William H. Rehnquist
1998 – George J. Mitchell
1997 – Charles Alan Wright
1996 – Gerald Bard Tjoflat
1995 – Lloyd N. Cutler
1994 – Milton Pollack
1993 – Cyrus Vance
1992 – Sandra Day O'Connor
1991 – William P. Rogers
1990 – William Hughes Mulligan
1989 – Marian Wright Edelman
1988 – Robert M. Morgenthau
1987 – Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
1986 – Shirley M. Hufstedler
1985 – Edward Bennett Williams
1984 – Edward Weinfeld
1983 – Potter Stewart
1982 – William H. Webster
1981 – Warren M. Christopher
1980 – Archibald Cox
1979 – Wade H. McCree, Jr.
1978 – Warren E. Burger
1977 – Edward H. Levi
1976 – Henry J. Friendly