Two College of Law professors have received honors this month from the University of Tennessee for their accomplishments in their academic work.
Professor Wendy Bach received the Jefferson Prize which is awarded annually to a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research and creative activity.
Bach, who has been with the university since 2010, is a nationally recognized expert in both clinical legal education and poverty law. She has dedicated her career to representing children and families in poor communities in a variety of legal settings. Her scholarship focuses on the interaction between systems of support and care and systems of punishment in poor communities.
In August 2022, Cambridge University Press released her book “Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care” – which explores how a law in Tennessee enabled prosecutors to charge new mothers with a crime for transmitting narcotics to a fetus. Her expertise has made her a valuable contributor to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers task force on the criminalization of pregnancy and reproductive health. In addition, she is assisting several organizations that are monitoring prosecutions following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision overruling Roe v. Wade.
“The faculty and administration at the college have thought long and hard about what it takes to support faculty as they seek to be both strong clinical teachers and deeply engaged scholars,” Bach said of her award win. “The job I have been lucky enough to have reflects this careful thought and dedication, and it is those structures and commitments that have enabled me to do the work that this prize honors.”
Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Programs Joy Radice was honored with the Excellence in Academic Outreach award.
The award annually honors those who exemplify UT’s land-grant mission by using intellectual capital to benefit the citizens of Tennessee.
Radice’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of criminal law and the administrative state and the gap in access to civil counsel. She teaches criminal law and the Advocacy Clinic, and in 2015 she founded the College of Law’s Expungement Mini Clinic. Radice’s efforts have since enabled hundreds of East Tennesseans to successfully expunge their criminal records.
In the past year, for example, the Expungement Clinic partnered with the Urban League to expunge criminal charges, restore driver’s licenses and voting rights and waive thousands of dollars in court-ordered costs for Urban League clients. As a result of this collaborative effort, more than 80 of these individuals subsequently secured employment and many were able to obtain housing.
“UT has provided me with the necessary resources to conduct expungement research and launch an expungement clinic that has trained dozens of students and helped hundreds of clients,” Radice said. “As a land-grant institution, UT’s mission supports work that builds lasting partnerships with community organizations like the Knoxville Area Urban League and work in rural East Tennessee.”