Creighton University Law Professor Edward J. Birmingham received the Nebraska State Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Legal Educator Award last month.

Birmingham has taught more than 20 courses at the Creighton University School of Law, including corporate federal taxation, estate planning and health law.

He promoted a master’s degree program for students seeking careers in government law as the school’s associate dean, and he was instrumental in launching an intensive, two-year program and a collaboration with the business school and the law school.

“I can’t express how grateful I am for this award, particularly from this foundation, which is renown certainly among the lawyers I know for all the work you do in educating students, particularly students in elementary and high school as well as law school,” Birmingham said. “There couldn’t be any greater honor for me than getting this award from this particular group.”

The award was presented at the 32nd annual Fellows Dinner at the Holland Center in Omaha on March 13, a day before the first case of community spread and the restrictions on public gatherings.

Steven Scholer, the senior philanthropic adviser at Creighton, presented the award. He said that Birmingham is an “outstanding and caring teacher” who advances the school’s mission to educate students and teach them how to serve others and pursue justice.

“Professor Birmingham has distinguished himself both in the classroom and as a legal scholar and has made significant contributions to legal education over the course of five decades,” Scholer said, noting he was one of Birmingham’s students. “Birmingham is a most worthy recipient of the Bar Foundation award.”

Birmingham tutored hundreds of students in the evenings and weekends to help them prepare for the bar exam, Scholer said.

“He is currently working on an innovative program to provide support and opportunities for at-risk law students,” Scholer said.

Birmingham coached 24 student moot court teams along with retired law professor Richard Shugrue, as well as negotiation and client counseling teams.

“I have been so fortunate to have this privilege of teaching law students, I learn more from the students than the students learn from me,” Birmingham said. 

Birmingham is also an accomplished writer who has published handbooks and law review articles as well as book chapters on personal injury law.

He was born in Sioux City, Iowa, and he finished a bachelor’s and one year of law school at Creighton before he moved to Washington, D.C. He worked in the Senate Office Building while attending law school, receiving his J.D. from Catholic University and an LLM in taxation from Georgetown University.