March 24, 2025 | Diana Nearhos

UConn Law Professor Leslie Levin Honored by New York State Bar Association

Levin is one of the leading scholars on legal ethics in the country and was one of the first to study lawyers' ethical decision making using empirical methods.

Leslie Levin portrait

Professor Leslie Levin has taught at UConn Law since 1994. (Diana Nearhos | UConn Law)

UConn Law Professor Leslie Levin was recognized for her lifetime of work in legal ethics, media law, and evidence with the Sanford D. Levy Professional Ethics Award.

This prestigious award is given annually by the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics to an individual or institution who has most contributed to the understanding and advancement in the field of professional ethics.

“Leslie Levin has long been a trusted expert on one of the most critical subjects of our profession. She is among the nation’s top authorities on legal ethics in addition to being an outstanding role model, author, and educator. She is an inspiration to her students and colleagues,” said Domenick Napoletano, president of the New York State Bar Association.

Levin was one of the first in the legal academy to systematically study lawyers’ ethical decision making using empirical methods. She has co-edited Lawyers in Practice: Ethical Decision Making in Context, which explores the many factors that affect how lawyers resolve ethical issues in different practice contexts. She has also been extolled for her nationally recognized pathbreaking work on the impact of bar associations on the socialization of lawyers.

“I was surprised and deeply honored to receive the award. It was the last thing I expected when they called me,” Levin said. “I am, at heart, a lawyer and when I started teaching, I wanted to write about lawyers and how they conduct themselves in the real world. How do they resolve ethical issues in practice?”

Levin served as the first director of the UConn Law Lawyering Process Program and as the first faculty pro bono coordinator, in addition to many other positions within the law school including multiple associate deanships. She also co-authored a report and recommendations about access to justice for self-represented litigants at the request of the Connecticut Judicial Branch Access to Justice Commission.

The graduating class of 2023 honored Levin with that year’s Perry Zirkel ’76 Distinguished Teaching Award.

“I am delighted to see the honor conferred on Professor Levin,” Dean Eboni S. Nelson said. “She is one of our country’s leading scholars on legal ethics and a transformational teacher, whose many contributions have greatly benefited the law school and legal community.”