Third Year Law Student Caitlin Robb Receives the Arent Fox Schiff - Dale Bumpers Excellence in Writing Award

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L to R: Caitlin Robb and A. Mills Bryant

Third-year law student Caitlin Robb has been announced as the winner of the 2022-23 Arent Fox Schiff - Dale Bumpers Excellence in Writing Award. The honor recognizes outstanding contributions to the Journal of Food Law and Policy, a publication of the School of Law. Since the publication's inception in 2005, it has remained a leader in legal scholarship surrounding the vast complexities of food and agricultural law.

The article, "Chewing the Welfare Cud: A Digested Analysis of a Consumer Versus Producer-Defined Standard of Welfare Practices in Animals Raised for Human Consumption," was written by Robb while a second-year law student serving as a staff editor of the Journal of Food Law and Policy; Robb now serves as editor-in-chief. The article examines the intersections of constitutional law and consumer preferences around the welfare of livestock raised for human consumption, positioning the intersection around California's Proposition 12. The article will appear in the Fall 2023 issue of the journal.

"Caitlin's work is an excellent example of the quality scholarship produced by our students and the cutting-edge articles published by the journal," said Susan Schneider, William H. Enfield Professor of Law and director of the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law. Schneider serves as the faculty adviser for the journal. "We are grateful to Arent Fox Schiff for continuing the tradition established by Sen. Dale Bumpers when he was with the firm. Their support to our students and the journal is invaluable."

This year for the first time, the attorneys at Arent Fox Schiff selected a second-place article that also impressed them. Mills Bryant's article "Free for All: Proposing Legislation to Eliminate Food Insecurity in Arkansas Public Schools" will also be published in the Fall 2023 issue of the journal. Bryant wrote the article while serving as a second-year law student staff editor and now serves as the lead note & comment editor for the journal.

Robb is a native of New Windsor, Illinois, and was raised on her family's centennial farm. She is a 2014 graduate of West Texas A&M University ("WTAMU") in Canyon, Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in agricultural communications. Before attending law school, Robb built a career in agricultural communications for seven years, working for brands such as John Deere, Syngenta Seeds, Missouri Cattlemen's Association and the Illinois Soybean Association. Robb also holds a Master of Science in straegic brand communication from the University of Illinois.

Robb is currently serving as a judicial clerk in the chambers of Associate Justice Courtney Hudson of the Arkansas Supreme Court and is a research fellow with the National Agricultural Law Center. After completion of the Missouri Bar next summer, Robb will join Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Missouri, as a litigation associate.

The Dale Bumpers Excellence in Writing Award celebrates the life and work of former Arkansas governor and U.S. senator Dale Bumpers. Following his retirement from the Senate in 1999, Bumpers became counsel to the law firm then known as Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin and Kahn, and worked in its Washington, D.C., office from 2000 until 2010. The firm has given the annual writing award, which includes a cash prize, since the journal's inception in 2005. It continues to honor students and Bumpers, who died in 2016. 

About the Journal of Food Law and Policy: The Journal of Food Law and Policy has long been recognized as a leader in publishing articles and essays on food law and its impact on society. When the journal's inaugural issue was published, no other student-edited journal was devoted to the topic, and few law schools recognized the emerging discipline of food law and policy. Since that time, the journal has led the nation in recognizing the significance of studying the legal framework of our food system. It is published twice a year and is edited by dedicated law students at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

About the University of Arkansas School of Law: The law school offers a competitive J.D. and is home to the nation's first LL.M. program in agriculture and food law. Led by nationally recognized faculty, the school offers students pro bono work, live client clinics, public service fellowships, competitions, and much more. Students also benefit from our location in one of the fastest growing, most livable, and economically vibrant regions in the U.S., and from our corporate externship partnerships with Fortune 500 companies. Our alumni have gone on to become judges, senators, and governors, and we serve communities throughout our state and nation through programs such as the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. Our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion is exemplified by the Six Pioneers, the first Black students to attend law school in the South without a court order. Follow us at @uarklaw.