MACON – Mercer Law School Professor Tony Baldwin was recently nominated for the CLEO EDGE Award for Education by CLEO Inc. – the Council for Legal Education Opportunity.
He will be recognized at a reception in Houston, Texas, next week along with other individuals, law schools and legal organizations who have made a significant impact on diversity and greater equality in legal education, the profession and/or society. Finalists among the nominees will be selected this fall.
Baldwin was nominated for his work to promote and support individuals from communities historically under-represented in the legal profession to attend law school and pursue a legal career. He demonstrates compassion, courage and leadership to eliminate discrimination, oppression and injustice locally, nationally and globally.
“Lawyers impact every aspect of American life. These noteworthy education nominees represent a small percentage of the thousands of outstanding individuals and organizations that share our passion and commitment to creating a legal profession that mirrors the mosaic fabric of this great nation,” said Cassandra Sneed Ogden, chief executive officer of CLEO. “We are honored to be able to recognize these nominees as part of CLEO’s 50-year milestone celebration.”
Baldwin has served as a member of the Law School Admissions Council and in its Minority Data Study Group. As member of the Minority Publication Subcommittee, he authored the first edition of Thinking About Law School – A Minority Guide in 1996.
During his tenure, he has served as faculty adviser to the award-winning Black Law Students Association (BLSA) chapter at Mercer and for the Frederick Douglass and Wagner National Labor and Employment Law moot court competitions.
In 2016, Baldwin helped establish Mercer Law’s BLSA Alumni Council (BAC), a group he informally formed years before, scheduling dinners to see former students and allow them to meet others from across graduating years, developing invaluable networks. In return, BAC honored him and named their first alumni award The Tony Baldwin Trailblazer Award, recognizing a BLSA alum who embodies the spirit of the chapter’s faculty adviser: thoughtful, bold and unmoved by the daily challenges of a black attorney in the legal profession.
His colleagues describe him as someone who nurtured students before they enrolled just as diligently as he did after they graduated. For years, he worked with the admissions office and administration, urging – successfully – for greater diversity among the student body. He put his words into action, becoming an amazing recruiter at historically black colleges and universities while maintaining his full-time teaching load. Read more on Professor Baldwin here.
