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Professor Emerita Fran Watson, J.D. ’80, has been chosen to receive the prestigious American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. She will be honored at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit annual conference, which this year will take place in late August in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. IU McKinney Dean Karen E. Bravo will present the award to Professor Watson during the ceremony.

“Our law school celebrates Professor Emerita Fran Watson’s receipt of this prestigious recognition,” Dean Bravo said. “Her tireless work on behalf of her clients has been an inspiration to all members of our community, and she has provided lifelong lessons for our students to follow.”

The American Inns of Court Professionalism Award honors “a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law.”

Professor Emerita Watson retired in December 2022, concluding her nearly 30-year career as director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at IU McKinney. She started her legal career as a deputy public defender in the Marion County Public Defender Agency. She served as assistant corporation counsel for the city of Indianapolis for five years before beginning her career at IU McKinney as a clinic supervisor. She was a visiting assistant professor for two years before serving as the chief public defender of the Marion County Public Defender Agency. During her time leading the public defender’s office, she served as an adjunct professor teaching trial advocacy at the law school. Professor Watson then returned to the law school to serve as the director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic, which is a founding member of the Innocence Network.

Professor Emerita Watson has received many honors during her teaching career, including the law school’s Teaching Excellence Award, the Indiana University Trustee Teaching Award twice, the McKinney Faculty Leadership Award, and the Inspiration Award from the law school’s faculty executive committee. She was an honoree at one of the law school’s Equal Justice Works Public Interest Recognition Dinners, named McKinney’s Outstanding Alumna of the Year, and received a campus Women’s History Month Annual Leadership award. Outside the university, Professor Watson has received the Indiana State Bar Women in the Law Award and the Michael McDaniel Indiana Public Defender Commission Spirit of Justice Award. In addition, the Indiana Lawyer named her one of our state’s Distinguished Barristers.

In addition, Senior Judge Robert Miller, J.D. ’75, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, will also receive the award.

IU McKinney Professor Frank Sullivan, Jr., received the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit in 2017.