Ohio State University Professor Edward B. “Ned” Foley has received the Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Professorship for the Administration of Justice and Rule of Law.

Last year the Chief Justice Moyer Legacy Fund raised $1.3 million in part for the new professorship to pay tribute to the late Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Moyer and to honor his legacy of integrity and professionalism. The Moyer Legacy Fund is a partnership among the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Foundation and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Foley is the director of Election Law at the Moritz College of Law and was the Isadore and Ida Topper Professor of Law. He has taught at Ohio State since 1991. Before then, Foley clerked for Chief Judge Patricia M. Wald of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Justice Harry Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1999, he took a leave from the faculty to serve as the state solicitor in the Ohio Attorney General’s office. In that capacity, he was responsible for the state’s appellate and constitutional cases. Foley received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Columbia University School of Law. His professorship term began July 1 and will run through June 30, 2017.

“This honor means so very much to me. I was fortunate to meet Chief Justice Moyer first while serving as State Solicitor in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Ever since, he has been a role model for me, because of his integrity and dedication, as he has to so many others,” Professor Foley said. “I hope that in my teaching and scholarship I can meet the expectations that are appropriately associated with this new position and, in doing so, can help extend the Chief Justice’s legacy.”

The Moyer Legacy Fund also announced the recipients of the Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Fellowships. Law students Chelsea Brint from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Jonathan Kenney from the University of Dayton School of Law were selected as the first two recipients of the annual fellowships. 

The fellowships are awarded to two exceptional first or second year students from Ohio law schools and are designed to honor Chief Justice Moyer’s commitment to improving access to courts, advancing civility and ethics, working with national and international organizations to promote the rule of law, and promoting civic education. Brint and Kenney received $3,000 from the Moyer Legacy Fund and $1,000 from their law schools to fund a summer opportunity advancing these principles.

“Awarding the professorship and the first two fellowships is the realization of a dream we all had to honor the legacy of Chief Justice Moyer,” said Barbara J. Howard, Moyer Legacy chair. “The Moyer Legacy Fund will allow us to perpetuate Chief Justice Moyer’s commitment to civility and the rule of law, and instill those important principles in future generations of lawyers and legal educators.”