The William S. Richardson School of Law has announced that law professor Jill Ramsfield has been named a 2008 recipient of the Board of Regents' Excellence in Teaching Award. This is the fifth consecutive year that a law school professor was chosen for the medal.

The Medal for Excellence in Teaching is the highest honor awarded by the Board of Regents as a tribute to faculty members who exhibit an extraordinary level of subject mastery and scholarship, teaching effectiveness and creativity and personal values that benefit students. The board also awards the Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research.

Ramsfield won the Law School's Student Choice Award and Professor of the Year last year. She specializes in the study of legal discourse, both in the United States and abroad. By combining studies in linguistics, composition theory and cognitive psychology, she has created a unique approach to teaching legal writing. She teaches continuing legal education courses nationally and internationally, helping lawyers to write better and faster. Her clients include law firms, government agencies, judges, and magistrates.

Internationally, she has assisted South Africa's 22 law schools to create new four-year curricula that incorporated classes in legal discourse. She has also presented classes and workshops to many international lawyers and judges, including justices from Iceland, South Africa, and Slovenia; lawyers from Russia, France, Germany, Sweden, and Uganda; and legal educators from Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. She earned her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College; master's degree and juris doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.