ABA recognizes SPEA professor

One of the nation’s top lawyers’ group honored an IU professor Wednesday for her significant contributions to dispute resolution, which include improving citizen involvement in government.

According to an IU press release, the American Bar Association awarded Lisa Blomgren Amsler, a faculty member at IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Section of Dispute Resolution’s Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work.

Amsler is a leading expert on dispute resolution, the process of resolving legal conflicts between parties, according to the release. She has co-edited three books and written almost 100 articles and book chapters.

In December, Amsler led a team of experts and scholars in publishing “Making Public Participation Legal,” a guide to updating laws so that citizens might more easily participate in government.

“The laws governing public participation are at least 30-years-old and predate social media, online forums and email listservs,” Amsler said in the Dec. 9 release. “The playing field has changed but the laws haven’t.”

The ABA credited that publication and Amsler’s further work on institutions’ conflict resolution processes, which revealed previously undisclosed facets, according to the release.

Amsler will receive the award April 5 during a conference in Miami.