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Candace Centeno Receives Outstanding Service Award from the Association of Legal Writing Directors

Candace Centeno

The Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) has recognized Candace Centeno, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Law and Director of the Duane Morris LLP Legal Writing Program, with the Outstanding Service Award. The Outstanding Service Award is presented to individuals who go above and beyond by volunteering their time, energy and talent to the organization, its members and the national legal writing community. This award was presented at the ALWD 2019 Biennial Conference, held in Boston on May 29-31.

Dean Centeno was nominated for her work on the inaugural Leadership Academy, which provided mentoring and formalized training for a new generation of leaders. Her dedicated work as a member of the ALWD Leadership and Development Committee was instrumental in successfully planning and implementing the Leadership Academy. Nominators for the award noted that Dean Centeno was an outstanding and proactive team member who quickly anticipated the committee’s needs, committed to the work and successfully completed the tasks. Her work is widely recognized throughout the legal writing community.

Prior to joining the Legal Writing Faculty at Villanova Law School in 2006, Dean Centeno was a defense litigator for 13 years at White & Williams in Philadelphia, where she represented physicians, hospitals and other healthcare professionals in medical malpractice and premise liability actions. She also served as an Arbitrator for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Dean Centeno continues to practice as a volunteer attorney at the Support Center for Child Advocates and she served as a Hearing Officer for the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board from 2011-2017.

Dean Centeno is actively involved in the national Legal Writing Institute (LWI): she served as Treasurer on the LWI Executive Board from 2014-2018 and she has helped coordinate and plan three national conferences. Centeno currently serves on committees for the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Legal Research and Writing section, the ALWD and the LWI.  She has published articles in Perspectives and the Second Draft, and she regularly presents at regional and national conferences. Her scholarly interests focus on legal writing and analysis, with an interest in the incorporation of skills training in the classroom. 

Dean Centeno is a graduate of Muhlenberg College (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and Boston College Law School (cum laude).

ALWD is a non-profit professional association with more than 300 members representing more than 150 law schools in the United States, Canada and Australia. ALWD serves its members through publications, events, resources and advocacy. It is the ABA’s legal writing affiliate and works alongside the Legal Writing Institute’s Professional Status Committee.