USD Law Dean Stephen Ferruolo to Receive Prestigious Bernard E. Witkin Award from the Law Library Justice Foundation

San Diego (September 10, 2014) – The Law Library Justice Foundation announced today it will honor University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Dean Stephen C. Ferruolo with the 2014 Bernard E. Witkin Award for Excellence in Teaching of the Law at the organization’s annual dinner on October 9, 2014. Presented annually, the prestigious award honors members of the San Diego legal community for civic leadership and excellence in the teaching, practice, enactment or adjudication of the law.

Ferruolo is the dean and professor of law at USD School of Law, where he advises USD's National Transactional LawMeet® team and co-teaches business planning and in-house corporate counseling. He specializes in the areas of business, corporate and biotech law.

Ferruolo clerked for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He served as the founding partner and chair of the San Diego office of Goodwin Procter LLP and was a partner and co-chair of the Corporate/VLG Practice Group at Heller Ehrman LLP in its Palo Alto, Calif. and San Diego offices. From 2003 to 2011, he served as vice president and general counsel of BIOCOM, the world’s largest regional life sciences association, and then as its vice chairman from 2011 to 2014. Ferruolo was named dean of USD School of Law and joined the faculty in 2011.

In 2006, BIOCOM awarded him with the William W. Otterson Service Award, presented for outstanding support of the life sciences industry in San Diego. In 2011, the Daily Journal listed him as one of the "Top 25 Biotech Lawyers in California." He was also selected for inclusion in the Corporate Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, and Venture Capital Law categories of The Best Lawyers in San Diego. Ferruolo is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the Life Sciences category and in the biotechnology law category of The Best Lawyers in America.

“Dean Ferruolo was selected based on his significant services to legal education as the dean of USD School of Law; his unparalleled achievement in education, including a PhD, JD, and two master's degrees; his noteworthy achievement as a practitioner of the law; and his authoritative book on the formation of the university,” said Judge Victor E. Bianchini (ret.), the subcommittee chair for awards and Board of Trustees member at the San Diego Law Library Foundation.

Selected solely on his merits, Bianchini also noted that Ferruolo is a rare consecutive USD-recipient, the late Professor Hugh C. Friedman having been last year’s awardee.

Among the previous recipients of the Bernard E. Witkin Award are John G. Davies, Justice Howard Wiener, the Honorable J. Lawrence Irving, Alec I. Cory, Justice Judith L. Haller, Herbert J. Solomon, Sister Sally Furay, Harvey Levine, Milton J. Silverman, Bonnie Dumanis, and Carol Lam.

This year’s Witkin Award Dinner honoring Dean Ferruolo will take place from 5:30 – 8: 30 p.m. on October 9, 2014, at the San Diego Law Library’s downtown branch, located at 1105 Front Street.

About Bernard E. Witkin, Esq.

B.E. Witkin’s career in the law spanned almost 70 years, included an impressive range of activities, and took place as the law of California was experiencing exponential growth in both size and complexity. In his positions as Supreme Court clerk and Reporter of Decisions, and in his activities as a tireless writer and lecturer, a teacher to experienced judges and to aspiring members of the Bar, and an advocate for legal reform, Witkin’s impact on California’s law, and on the law of other states, was enormous. The fact that his treatises have been cited by the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal more than 20,000 times is a lasting tribute to his influence.

About the San Diego Law Library

Since 1891 the San Diego Law Library has provided free legal information to San Diego county residents at four locations in Vista, El Cajon, Chula Vista, and downtown San Diego. The organization’s mission is to provide well-trained and knowledgeable staff to help the many diverse communities of San Diego County to use and access appropriate legal materials and resources in a safe and healthy space. Through programs and outreach events, the San Diego Law Library partners with the bar associations, public libraries, schools, business groups, the courts and government agencies to provide access to the laws that can bring real justice to those seeking its help.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Celebrating 60 years of alumni success, the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law is recognized for the excellence of its faculty, depth of its curriculum, and strength of its clinical programs. Each year, USD educates approximately 900 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 81 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 23rd worldwide in all-time faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, nonprofit, independent, Roman Catholic university