Inn of Court Awards
The Dallas Insurance Law American Inn of Court presents two annual awards recognizing exceptional contributions to insurance law and the legal profession.
The Serjeant of the Inn Award recognizes a Master of the Bench whose professional service, leadership, and contributions to the community exemplify the highest traditions of the legal profession.
The Lex Mercatoria Award for Insurance Law recognizes the author of a recent book or article that has made an extraordinary contribution to the theory, practice, or development of insurance law.
Learn more about each award below.
About the Serjeant of the Inn Award
Each participating North Texas American Inn of Court presents the Serjeant of the Inn Award to recognize a Master of the Bench whose professional service, leadership, and contributions to the community exemplify the highest traditions of the legal profession. Each Inn selects one honoree, who is recognized at the Joint Meeting of the North Texas Inns of Court held each January.
The Award takes its name from the Serjeants-at-Law, a distinguished order of barristers whose history in England can be traced to at least 1300. Serjeants-at-Law wore distinctive professional dress, most notably the coif—a fine white linen or silk skullcap that became the symbol of their order. For centuries, Serjeants enjoyed the exclusive right to practice before the Court of Common Pleas, and appointment as a Serjeant was traditionally a prerequisite to service as a judge of the superior common-law courts.
The emergence of King’s and Queen’s Counsel, together with nineteenth-century reforms to the English courts and legal profession, contributed to the gradual decline of the Serjeants-at-Law. The appointment of new Serjeants ended during the nineteenth century, and the last surviving English Serjeant-at-Law died in 1921.
Drawing upon the traditions of the Serjeants-at-Law, the North Texas American Inns of Court confer the Serjeant of the Inn Award upon Masters of the Bench whose professional service, leadership, and contributions to the community exemplify the highest traditions of the legal profession.
Serjeant of the Inn Award Recipients
2026 – Robert (Bob) D. Allen – The Allen Law Group
2025 – Marc Gravely – Gravely PC
2024 – Matthew Kolodoski – Gette Law, PLLC
Lex Mercatoria Award
The Dallas Insurance Law American Inn of Court established the Lex Mercatoria Award for Insurance Law in 2024 to recognize exceptional scholarship that advances the understanding and practice of insurance law.
The Award takes its name from the lex mercatoria, or law merchant—a body of commercial customs and principles that helped shape the legal traditions from which modern commercial and insurance law developed. The name reflects the Inn’s commitment to rigorous scholarship, thoughtful professional discourse, and the continued development of insurance law.
Presented annually by the Inn, the Award recognizes the author of a recent book or article that has made an extraordinary contribution to the theory, practice, or development of insurance law. Recipients are selected for work that offers original analysis, illuminates important legal or institutional questions, and provides lasting value to judges, practitioners, scholars, and the broader legal community.
The Award is presented in conjunction with the annual Lex Mercatoria Lecture, through which the recipient is invited to address the Inn regarding the recognized work or another significant subject within the recipient’s scholarship. The Lecture brings together judges, academics, policyholder counsel, insurer counsel, and other members of the bar for serious examination of issues affecting insurance law and practice.
Together, the Award and Lecture advance the scholarly mission of the Dallas Insurance Law American Inn of Court—the nation’s only American Inn of Court specializing in insurance law—and form an important part of the Inn’s continuing efforts to promote excellence, education, and meaningful dialogue within the field.
Lex Mercatoria Award for Insurance Law Recipients
2025 – Professor Jeffrey Stempel – University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law
2024 – Professor Hannah Farber – Columbia University