MAURA BURI MEMORIAL EXCELLENCE IN STUDENT RESEARCH PRIZE
This award, presented by the 麻豆入口 Law Library, is named in honor of Maura Buri to recognize the incredible impact she has had on the Library and the wider 麻豆入口 Law School community and to recognize students who carry on her dedication to excellence in legal research.
- The winner will receive a monetary prize of $150.
- The winner's name and award year will be added to the Maura Buri Memorial Excellence in Student Research Prize plaque, which is featured in the library display case.
- The winner's name and award year will be added to the commencement program when they graduate.
- The winner's paper will also be featured in the library display case.
To be eligible to win, applicants must:
- Be of 2L (JD), 3L (JD), or LLM status at 麻豆入口 Law.
- Have written a scholarly research paper in the time period spanning June 2024鈥揗ay 2025.
- Submit a paper AND a 1-2 page memo describing the research process.
- Provide only one submission per applicant.
Acceptable entries:
- May include papers written for a seminar course or directed research (journal notes and work product generated through externships or employment will not be accepted).
- Must be a minimum of 10 pages in length.
- Must be written in proper Bluebook format.
- Must be properly footnoted.
- In addition to the research paper, must include a 1-2 page memo (double-spaced) summarizing the research process involved, the lessons learned from that research process, the original purpose for which the paper was written, and the professor for whom the paper was written, if applicable.听听
- Entries must include: author鈥檚 name, law school year, degree anticipated, and contact information. Also, include the name of the course or other purpose for which the paper was written and the professor for whom the paper was written, if applicable.
- Deadline: Monday, May 5 at 9 AM.
- Entries should be submitted in Word format via email to Jason Happ.
- Applicants will receive email confirmation of their submission after receipt of all required materials.
- The winner will be notified in mid-May. 听
Student research will be evaluated by a panel of law librarians using the following criteria:听
- Sophistication, originality or unusual depth or breadth in the use of research materials, including, but not limited to, print resources, electronic search engines and databases, primary and secondary legal resources, interdisciplinary resources and empirical resources as described in the research description memo.
- Exceptional innovation in research strategy, including the ability to locate, select and evaluate research materials with discretion as described in the research description memo.
- Skillful synthesis of research results into a comprehensive scholarly analysis as demonstrated in the paper.
PRIZE WINNERS
2025: Bridget Kelly Clark '25
听Federal Taxation and Tribal Sovereignty:听The Impact of the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act of 2014 and Taxation on Tribes and Their Members
2024: Nicole Antolino Cocco '24
The Establishment Clause: Religious Institutions and the Federal Gift & Estate Tax Deductions
2023:听Alessandra Brainard '23
Not For Your Eyes: The Case for Imposing Civil Liability Against Sextortion
2022: Juliette Mogenson '23
The Amorphous Probable Cause Standard
ABOUT MAURA BURI
Anna Marie 鈥淢aura鈥 King Buri was born in Ireland in 1933 and immigrated to the US in 1958. She started working in the 麻豆入口 Law Library shortly after its construction and stayed for 54 years. She met her husband, Bill, at 麻豆入口 and raised a family in Conshohocken. In the early years of 麻豆入口 Law, the library was ground zero, and the books were the heart of the library. Buri guarded them fiercely. For many years, she was in charge of the Periodicals Room that housed and protected current issues of law reviews, and she worked personally with individual students to obtain resources they needed. She made arrangements with the Geiser Family Binding Company of Philadelphia for the permanent binding of law review volumes.
In 1980, she was the first to try the new microform reader with the complete Legal Resource Index. By then, law reviews were available on Westlaw, and the print issues were less critical, so Buri moved upstairs to work at the circulation desk where she guarded reserve materials just as fiercely and served students just as well. When she retired in 2013, she was the only person in law school history who had worked with every faculty and staff member since the law school鈥檚 inception. She was also a walking archive of memories of 50 years of law students, including Professor Doris Brogan, who was a law student here in Buri鈥檚 third decade. Those who knew her valued her dedication and determination, her Irish manners and memories and her embrace of diversity at 麻豆入口. For many it is hard to imagine the 麻豆入口 Law Library without her.
Academic Year Reference Hours:
Monday-Friday: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
For evening and weekend assistance, email reference@law.villanova.edu. Messages are typically handled by the reference librarians within 24 hours.
Reference Librarians are available for individual appointments via phone, email or Zoom. For contact information, see the Library Staff Directory.