Jennifer Mnookin, UCLA professor of law, has been honored with the 2014 Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching, which is presented by the law school each year to a professor who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching.
Mnookin is a nationally renowned expert in the area of evidence, particularly expert and scientific evidence and the use of forensic science in court. Her scholarship has focused on a wide variety of evidence-related subjects, including the history, uses, and limitations of significant forensic techniques like latent fingerprint identification, handwriting identification and DNA profiling. Mnookin’s academic writing has also examined topics such as law and documentary film, expert evidence and the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment, theoretical issues in evidence interpretation and photographic and visual forms of evidence.
As a teacher, Mnookin recently developed a new and innovative course in expert and scientific evidence, in which she combined in-depth traditional doctrinal and analytic learning with skills development. She has also been closely involved in curricular reform efforts at UCLA. She spearheaded an effort several years ago to add the Perspectives on Law and Lawyering classes to the curriculum, courses that meet in professors' homes or at local restaurants, providing small-group opportunities to explore non-traditional materials that shed light on law and lawyering.
Mnookin received the award at the 35th Rutter Award Presentation Ceremony on March 17. For more information, visit UCLA School of Law.