William Burton Named Recipient of the 2022 Scribes Lifetime-Achievement Award

William C. Burton, author of Burton's Legal Thesaurus, has been named as the recipient of a Lifetime-Achievement Award from Scribes--The American Society of Legal Writers.

Mr. Burton is a partner at Sagat|Burton LLP, New York. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Burton Foundation and the Burton Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in legal writing and legal writing education.

Mr. Burton previously served as a New York State Assistant Attorney General and an Assistant New York State Special Prosecutor. For fifteen years, he was the Director of Government Affairs for Continental Insurance, then one of the largest international insurance companies.

Burton's Legal Thesaurus, now in its sixth edition, is the first and only reference book of its kind written for the legal profession. When it was first published more than forty years ago, the Association of American Publishers recognized it as “One of the most Creative and Innovate Projects of the Year.” 

In 2010, Mr. Burton was awarded the prestigious Golden Pen Award by the Legal Writing Institute for his advocacy and impact on legal writing. In 2011, he received the Blackstone Award from the Friends of the Law Library of Congress for embodying and promoting the best ideals of that venerable institution, the largest law library in the world. 

The Scribes Lifetime-Achievement Award will be presented to Mr. Burton at the Library of Congress as part of the Burton Awards on June 13, 2022. Click here for more information about that event. 

Mr. Burton joins the following list of recipients of the Scribes Lifetime-Achievement Award:

• 2020 Professor Bryan A. Garner, Author of Garner's Modern English Usage and Editor of Black's Law Dictionary
• 2019 The Honorable Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States
• 2018 The Honorable Diane Wood, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• 2017 The Honorable Robert Henry, President, Oklahoma City University
• 2016  The Honorable Frank Easterbrook & The Honorable Richard Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• 2015  The Right Honorable the Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, 2000 to 2005
• 2012  The Honorable John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States
• 2010  Professor Emeritus Richard C. Wydick, University of California, Davis, School of Law 
• 2009  The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States
• 2008  The Honorable Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States
• 2004  The Honorable Richard Sheppard Arnold, Chief Judge United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• 2002  The Honorable Guido Calabresi, Judge United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

(mew)