Christina Parajon Skinner Wins 2011 American Inns of Court Warren E. Burger Prize

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Christina Parajon Skinner, a recent graduate of Yale University Law School, has won the 2011 American Inns of Court Warren E. Burger Prize. Skinner receives a cash prize of $5,000 and the essay will be published in the South Carolina Law Review. The award will be presented on November 5, 2011, at the American Inns of Court’s Celebration of Excellence, hosted by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, at the Supreme Court of the United States.

“promotes the ideals of excellence, civility, ethics, and professionalism within the legal profession”

The Warren E. Burger Prize is a writing competition designed to encourage outstanding scholarship that “promotes the ideals of excellence, civility, ethics, and professionalism within the legal profession,” the core mission of the American Inns of Court. The American Inns of Court invites judges, lawyers, professors, students, scholars, and other authors to participate in the competition by submitting an original, unpublished essay of 10,000 to 25,000 words on a topic of their choice addressing issues of legal excellence, civility, ethics, and professionalism.

Skinner is a clerk for Judge Barbara S. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for the 2011–2012 term. Prior to that, she was a clerk for Judge Thomas L. Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

She received her A.B., cum laude, from Princeton University in 2006, majoring in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and also received certificates in Spanish Language and Culture and European Politics and Society. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2010, after spending a year in Washington, D.C. working at the U.S. Institute of Peace. At Yale, Skinner was an executive editor of the Yale Law Journal and spent a semester as an extern at a U.S. Attorney’s Office. She also participated in the Willem C. Vis Moot, an international commercial arbitration moot competition.

Skinner’s award-winning essay is titled, “The Unprofessional Sides of Social Media and Social Networking: How Current Standards Fall Short.” In the essay, Skinner contends that “the trend among young lawyers to share and share alike on the Internet requires the profession to revisit its standards of professionalism in light of the social media phenomenon. In so doing, it should consider not only how to regulate social networking and media but also how to reshape professional norms.”

The American Inns of Court fosters excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility, and legal skills. The American Inns of Court membership includes more than 28,000 federal, state, and local judges, lawyers, law professors, and law students in more than 350 chapters across the United States. Additionally, there are more than 85,000 alumni members. The organization is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. More information is available at www.innsofcourt.org.