The 2007 Thomas F. Blackwell Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Legal Writing was presented to Louis J. Sirico, Jr. by the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute. The award was made by Lisa Blackwell and representatives of the two organizations at a reception held in Washington, D.C. on January 5, 2007.

Professor Sirico, a Professor of Law and Director of the Legal Writing Program at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. with Honors from the University of Texas School of Law. At Texas, he was an associate editor of the Texas Law Review, Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Criminal Law, and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He was an attorney with several public interest organizations, including the National Public Interest Research Group in Washington, D.C., Fairfield County (Connecticut) Legal Services, and the Connecticut Citizens Action Group in Hartford. Before joining the Villanova faculty in 1981, he was an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University School of Law.

Professor Sirico has written and taught in several fields of law. His books in the area of legal writing include:

• Judging: A Book for Student Clerks (Matthew Bender 2002)
• Legal Research (2d ed., Aspen 2001) (with Nancy L. Schultz)
• Persuasive Legal Writing for Lawyers and the Legal Profession (2d ed., LexisNexis 2001) (with Nancy L. Schultz)
• Legal Writing and Other Lawyering Skills (4th ed., LexisNexis 1998) (with Nancy L. Schultz)

He is also the author of numerous articles on legal research and writing, property, and constitutional law, which have been published in journals such as the New York University Law Review, Connecticut Law Review, and Constitutional Commentary.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute and serves on the Editorial Board of Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, a quarterly journal published by The West Group; the Editorial Board of Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute; the Editorial Board of the Legal Intelligencer (the Philadelphia region’s legal newspaper); the Advisory Board of the Villanova University Paralegal Program; and the Plain English Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences on legal research and writing.