Coleen Miller Barger is the Altheimer Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and is one of the gentle giants of the legal writing field.

Professor Barger has dedicated her career to the study and teaching of legal writing. She began her academic career at UALR in 1992 as a legal writing instructor. She has remained at UALR, earning tenure in 2006 and being promoted to full professor in 2008. She earned her juris doctorate in 1988 from UALR.

For nearly twenty-five years, Professor Barger has represented our profession with the highest dedication and service in countless ways. While doing the hard day-to-day work of teaching legal writing to first-year-law students, Professor Barger has served as a scholar, mentor, advocate, and "all-around leader of the legal writing community." As one of her nominators stated, Professor Barger "embodies the spirit" of the Blackwell Award embracing Tom Blackwell's nurturing of students, supporting young academic professionals, and "giving back enormously to our professional organizations."

Professor Barger is the co-founder of the Journal of Appellate Practice and Procedure, a co-author of the ALWD Companion: A Citation Practice Book, and the author of the fifth edition of the Manual-ALWD Guide to Legal Citation. She has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and bar journals, and chapters in books. She has served on the board of directors of both the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors. She has inspired thousands of young lawyers and has mentored legal writing professors across the country.