UA Law Professor Honored with Burnum Award

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Pamela H. Bucy, Frank M. Bainbridge Professor of Law in The University of Alabama School of Law, has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award at UA.

The Burnum Award is one of the highest honors the University bestows on its faculty. Established by Mrs. Celeste Burnum and the late Dr. John F. Burnum of Tuscaloosa, it is presented annually to a professor who is judged by a faculty selection committee to have demonstrated superior scholarly or artistic achievements and profound dedication to the art of teaching.

Bucy will give a lecture and be presented with the award March 8 at 4:30 p.m. in the Moot Court room of the Law School. Her lecture, titled “Cops and Stops,” will address issues of Constitutional law, the Fourth Amendment and search and seizure.

“Professor Bucy is a most distinguished and highly productive legal scholar,” UA Law Dean Ken Randall wrote in a nomination letter for the award. “(Her) work stretches the intellect; she is a great advocate, but objective and open-minded; and she is creative but has wise judgment. I know of no other faculty member anywhere who combines scholarly accomplishments with Professor Bucy’s energetic dedication to teaching and service.”

Bucy said she is “very humbled” to receive the award. “I’m very fortunate to spend every day doing what I love doing – teaching, talking with students, and research and writing,” she said. “I especially value the relationships I’ve developed with students and former students. It’s rewarding when my relationships with students evolve over the years into friendships.”

Bucy joined the UA law faculty as an assistant professor in 1987 after serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri for seven years. She was promoted to associate professor in 1989 and professor in 1992. She was named to the Bainbridge Professorship in 1993.

A respected teacher, Bucy received the UA National Alumni Association’s Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award in 2000 and has been named the School of Law’s Outstanding Faculty Member five times.

She initiated the Law School’s Summer Externship Program, Shadow Program, Judicial Clerkship Externship Program and Public Interest Law Institute, all to assist students in gaining legal experience.

Bucy’s areas of research and expertise include criminal law, white collar crime and health care fraud. She has published numerous articles and three books, including a volume on white collar crime that has been adopted by professors at law schools nationwide.

Her current research projects include using the HealthSouth/Richard Scrushy cases to highlight trends in health care fraud. “I’m also starting a project that will interview seasoned prosecutors and defense attorneys as to what they think causes white collar professionals to cross the line and commit crimes,” she said.