NIU’s Interim Dean Malcolm Morris has been elected as a 2008 Laureate to the Academy of Illinois Lawyers.

According to the Academy of Illinois Lawyers Web site, the Laureate award is given to “lawyers who have established and maintained the highest principles of the profession as demonstrated by their pervasive record of service to the law and the public.”

Nominees must be members of the Illinois State Bar Association and must have practiced law in the state of Illinois for at least 25 years.

Since its foundation in 1999, the Academy of Illinois Lawyers has elected 80 attorneys to receive the Laureate award.

“This is a tremendous honor for being selected for this award,” Morris said. “The university has been very supportive of my efforts throughout my career.”

Morris has been an NIU professor since NIU’s College of Law was first acquired in 1979. He has served two years as Associate Dean as well as one year as the University Personnel Adviser before he was named Interim Dean of the College of Law.

Morris has also been actively involved in many programs throughout campus. He directed the Program for Minority Access to Law School as well as Council on Legal Education Opportunity Institute in 1995.

From there, he started the Sophomore Summer Institute program, which is one of the first nationally based programs that assist undergraduates and minorities succeed in law school.

Morris is the chair of the Legal Education, Admissions and Competence Committee and has received the Austin Fleming Award for his editing work for “The Counselor.”

He has additionally served on the Bar Admissions Committee of the American Bar Association and has served as a chair on the Donative Transfers Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

In addition to publishing many works throughout his career, he was the main draftsman for the Notary Code of Professional Responsibility and the Model Notary Act of 2002.

He was named the recipient of the National Notary Association’s Achievement Award and was also named one of the “50 Most Influential People in Notarization in the Last 50 Years.”

“I believe I am the only current member from the field of academics to be selected for this award,” Morris said.

Morris and five other recipients of the Laureate award will be inducted in Chicago April 8.

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