Chad Flanders receives award for excellent legal writing
Chad Flanders will receive this year’s Missouri Bar Foundation W. Oliver Rasch Award for his article, “Considering causation in Missouri felony murder law” in the January/February 2023 issue of the Journal of The Missouri Bar.
Named after the late long-time member and former chair of the Journal Editorial Board, Oliver Rasch, this award recognizes outstanding substantive articles appearing in the Journal.
Flanders will accept his award in St. Louis during the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar and Judicial Conference, Sept. 18-20.
Flanders has been a law professor at Saint Louis University since 2009. He also volunteers for the Missouri Public Defender as a special public defender and the Alaska Department of Law as a volunteer district attorney. He graduated from Yale Law School.
His Journal article covers causation question doctrine, and he offers perspective on how he believes courts should analyze it. He also examines what “causation” means in the context of Missouri felony murder and the reasoning of the Missouri Court of Appeals in two recent cases.
Flanders said he was “very gratified” by how receptive lawyers, judges, and former students were to his article. He tells his students that having a better understanding of state law is vital for advocating on behalf of clients.
“The Journal of The Missouri Bar provides a place for members of the bar to learn about what's going on in Missouri law. So, it's nice to be able to contribute to that,” he said.
Ultimately, the never-ending need to learn is what drives Flanders to write academic articles about various aspects of state law.
“There is always something new to learn about the law, no matter how long you've practiced or taught. It's profoundly humbling,” he said. “There are also a lot of things to be angry … about (some of) the laws that are on the books and how they get implemented. So, in law, you never stop learning, and you never stop being motivated to want to move the law in a better direction.”
Flanders advice to other lawyers was simple: “Write and submit an article!”
Interested in writing for the Journal? Email Editor Nicole Roberts-Hillen at nhillen@mobar.org.
Click here to learn more about annual awards presented by The Missouri Bar, The Missouri Bar Foundation, and other entities. Read about other 2024 award winners here.