Associate Dean Kathryn Kennedy (left) congratulates her colleague Professor Alberto Bernabe after he received the Scholarly Achievement Award.
Professor Alberto Bernabe was honored with the Scholarly Achievement Award at the June 3, 2012, commencement ceremony.
Since joining The John Marshall Law School in 1992, Professor Bernabe has been one of the most prolific scholars on the faculty. He has published 21 law review articles and many short pieces. He also edits two highly regarded legal blogs in which he publishes information and comments on recent cases and developments in the law of torts and professional responsibility. In addition, Professor Bernabe authored his own casebook for his Professional Responsibility course.
Professor Bernabe’s scholarship has explored many different topics, including the concept of professionalism, the effects of globalization on the practice of law and legal education, legal ethics, the history of American legal education, journalism ethics, Puerto Rican tort law, freedom of the press and the relationship between the media and the judicial system.
Between 2004 and 2006, at the invitation of other scholars from the University of Puerto Rico, Professor Bernabe published four articles criticizing and arguing for the rejection of a proposed revision of the torts provisions of the Puerto Rico Civil Code. The proposals were eventually abandoned.
He was then invited to serve as editor-in-chief of the Puerto Rico Bar Association Law Review, which he did until 2007. Under his leadership, the law review published special issues dedicated to the discussion of professionalism and professional responsibility.
Recently Professor Bernabe turned his attention to the debate surrounding the adoption of new rules of professional conduct in Illinois. Between 2008 and 2011, he published two articles discussing and sometimes criticizing the proposals that eventually became the recently adopted Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct.
Many of Professor Bernabe’s articles and other publications have been cited in judicial opinions, scholarly articles and legal blogs. One of his law review articles was reprinted in a popular professional responsibility textbook and is still included in its latest edition. Professor Bernabe has also been invited to present a number of his publications at academic and professional conferences, including his most recent article which he presented at an international conference in early June 2012.
After graduating from law school, Professor Bernabe clerked for the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. He later entered private practice specializing in personal injury, mass disaster litigation and general media law practice. Professor Bernabe was a teaching fellow at Temple University Beasley School of Law teaching Mass Media Law and collaborated in teaching Torts, Products Liability and Legal Ethics. At the same time, he was completing his LLM in Legal Education. He received the degree from Beasley School of Law in 1994.
