SAN DIEGO & LOS ANGELES, CA, Nov. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Southwestern Law School Dean Emeritus Susan Westerberg Prager recently received the Bernard E. Witkin Medal, awarded annually by the California Lawyers Association Member of the legal community has helped shape the legal landscape through extraordinary work.

Past Witkin Medal winners include Justices Anthony Kennedy, James Brosnahan, Herma Kay Hill, Erwin Chemerinsky, Jesse Choper, Gerald Gunther and Southwestern former Justice Stanley Mosk ’35.

A pioneer in legal education, Prager served as the first female and 11th Dean and President of Southwestern from 2013 to 2021. She joined Southwestern after serving as executive director and chief executive officer of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Prager previously served in a number of leadership positions, including 16 years as Dean of the UCLA School of Law and President of the Occidental College.

Early in her career, Prager worked for California US Senator and minority leader Thomas Kuchel, Congressman Pete McCloskey and California Rep. John Veneman of Modesto. She received her JD degree from the UCLA School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the UCLA Law Review.

After practicing law on the East Coast, Prager returned to her alma mater in 1972 as a member of the UCLA law school and later as dean. She was the first female dean in the University of California system and, at her appointment, was one of only two female law school deans in the country. Her 16-year deanship is the longest tenure by a law dean in UCLA history. Dean Prager was also the first UCLA graduate to hold that post.

While at UCLA, Dean Prager became the second woman ever elected President of the AALS. She has also served on the boards of directors of the Law School Admissions Council and the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

She was a trustee of Stanford University for 14 years…