The Goler Teal Butcher Award

The Goler Teal Butcher Award Committee reviews applications for the Goler Teal Butcher Award. The information below describes the award and the criteria for it.

Goler Teal Butcher bio
Genesis of the Award
Award Criteria
Procedures for Application for the Award

Goler Teal Butcher Biography

Goler Teal Butcher was born on July 13, 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1946, with Major Honors. She met the man who was to become her husband of 47 years on the first day of school and married him the day after graduation. She graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1957 and earned her LL. M. from the University of Pennsylvania the following year.

Her work as a lawyer, scholar, advocate, and professor in the field of international law spanned three decades beginning in 1963 with a position as an attorney at the Office of the Legal Advisor, Department of State. She held other governmental posts including Assistant Administrator for Africa, Agency for International Development under the Carter Administration, and head of the Clinton-Gore Transition Team for the Agency of International Development.

At Howard University School of Law Professor Butcher taught a variety of international law courses, including especially the International Law of Human Rights. She directed the Masters of Comparative Jurisprudence Program for foreign lawyers to come to learn about the common law and about the U.S. legal system. Her writings include: "Human Rights: Promise and Reality;" "Sub-Saharan Economic Developments and Prospects for the 1990's;" "Realities Confronting Newly Independent Namibia;" and more. She retired from teaching in 1992.

Professor Butcher was an active member of many organizations concerned with international law and with human rights including service as a board member of Amnesty International, the American Society of International Law (honorary vice-president), the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law, The International Human Rights Law Group, and others. In 1992 she received the Whitney North Seymour Award, the highest award given to lawyers by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law and in 1993 she received the African Freedom Award from TransAfrica.

Professor Goler Teal Butcher was a tenacious advocate for human rights, a tireless worker for justice, a beloved wife and mother, an admired and gifted professor, and a remarkable person. She unflinchingly did what she saw needed to be done and what she knew to be right. Among her trademark expressions, my favorite is a quote she attributes to another (I cannot find the original source): "Anything really worth doing takes more than a single lifetime to accomplish."

Genesis of the Award

While she was a law professor at Howard University School of Law, Professor Butcher sought to encourage top students to enter the field of international law in general and human rights in particular. She valued combining theory, legal knowledge, and legal ability with action. It was not sufficient that one master the law and ground one's understanding in theory&endash;the practical applications of the knowledge were always of central concern to her. Law is both a theoretical and practical discipline. In order to further her goals and values in these directions, Professor Butcher created the Goler Teal Butcher Award to attract strong students to international law and to encourage student scholarship grounded in both theory and practice. These aims are reflected in the criteria established for the award.

Criteria for the Award

  1. Applicants must be enrolled at Howard University School of Law as juris doctor candidates and must be in good standing; and
  2. Applicants must rank in the top 25% of the class academically; and
  3. Applicants must submit a paper acceptable to the Goler Teal Butcher Committee concerning a current crisis or otherwise important issue of human rights. The paper should not only discuss the human rights being violated, but should also propose a plan of action to correct or eliminate the violations or address the concerns. The paper must be of publishable, or near publishable quality. The ideal paper would demonstrate understanding of pertinent theory and jurisprudential underpinnings, develop a plan of action which demonstrates understanding of the relevant international legal processes, justice issues, and interdisciplinary issues so as to make the recommendations both imaginative and credible. The plan of action need not be capable of immediate implementation or success. Plans can include seeking the establishment of new norms, finding and trying lead cases in appropriate tribunals, work through an NGO or international agency such as the ILO or WHO or Security Council, regional conferences, lobbying, etc. The paper must be at least 25 pages long. Writing style matters.
  4. Applicants must demonstrate a strong interest in international law as shown by:
    1. enrollment in international law courses (enrollment in a basic course of public international law and in an international law of human rights course satisfies the requirement, but is not the only means to do so); and/or
    2. practical experience and activities such as active participation in a human rights organization; and/or
    3. internships or externships with appropriate international organizations, particularly in the field of human rights; and/or
    4. volunteer work in the international law field.

Procedures

Applicants must submit a portfolio to the committee by March 1 of the year in which the prize is to be awarded. The winner will be announced in April or May of that year. The decision by the committee is final.

The portfolio must contain the following items:

  1. A short personal statement articulating the student's interest and experience in international law;
  2. A current resume;
  3. A current law school transcript;
  4. Two copies of the paper being submitted; and
  5. Such other information relevant to the criteria identified above which the student considers important for the committee to know.

The prize need not be awarded each year and will not be awarded if papers are not of sufficiently high quality or if a student does not otherwise qualify.

Portfolios should be delivered to Professor Steven D. Jamar, Chair, Goler Teal Butcher Award Committee, Howard University School of Law, 2900 Van Ness Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008. Interested students can contact me in my office (Houston Hall 402), by phone (202-806-8017), or by email at sjamar@law.howard.edu.