FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of Howard W. Brill, holder of the Vincent Foster Professor of Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility at the School of Law, to University Professor, effective Aug. 1, 2005.

Professor Brill’s primary teaching areas at the Law School are professional responsibility, remedies, civil procedure and a special topics course on baseball and the law. He joined the Law School faculty in 1975.

After graduating from Duke University, Professor Brill taught English language and African literature as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sokoto, Nigeria. He graduated from the University of Florida Law School, where he was the editor-in-chief of the law review, and later earned a graduate law degree from the University of Illinois. In addition to practicing with a small firm in Rock Island, Ill., he has taught at the Universities of Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. In connection with the Law School's summer programs, he has taught in Cambridge, England, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

His publications include “Arkansas Law of Damages” (5th edition) and “Arkansas Professional and Judicial Ethics” (6th edition). He served on Gov. Bill Clinton's Commission on Ethics and Gov. Jim Guy Tucker's Ethics Task Force. Along with other court and bar association committees, he serves on the Professional Ethics and Grievances Committee of the Arkansas Bar and the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. Professor Brill also serves as the university's representative to the NCAA and the Southeastern Conference.

According to the University of Arkansas faculty handbook, a University Professor is "a distinction bestowed upon active faculty, either from this university or other universities, who are widely recognized for their sustained excellence in scholarship, teaching, research, or creative activity germane to their respective disciplines and who have provided exemplary service to the university or to their profession or to the public through professional activity. Appointment to a University Professorship signifies a special honor conferred only upon active faculty of extraordinary merit.”