Third-Year Law Student Wins Arent Fox/Dale Bumpers Award

University Relations

Donta Dismuke

Third-year law student Donta Dismuke, managing editor with the Journal of Food Law and Policy, has won the Arent Fox/Dale Bumpers Excellence in Writing Award. The Arent Fox law firm selects one article from those prepared by the journal's staff editors. The winning article is published in the subsequent issue of the journal, and the author receives a monetary award.

In this year's winning article, "Racial 'Food' Justice: The (un)Hidden link between zoning and food deserts," which was written while Dismuke was in his second year of law school, he explores how zoning and land use laws have adversely affected minority communities' access to healthy food choices.

"I wanted to write about a topic that explored the intersection of race, economic status and food access," Dismuke said. "I believe that it's extremely important to tell the stories of people whose lives are adversely affected solely based on their socioeconomic status and that we explore ways to help them and their communities. It feels good to see my hard work on such a sensitive and nuanced topic acknowledged by such a prestigious award."

Dismuke graduated from the U of A Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences with degrees in history and African and African American studies in 2017. He expects to graduate with a Juris Doctor in May 2022.

"I am so proud of Donta's work," said Susan Schneider, director of the LL.M. Program and the William H. Enfield Professor of Law. "His article considers critical food justice issues through the lens of land use and zoning laws. It's an important addition to legal scholarship in this area and challenges communities to implement changes that would better serve the food needs of low-income minority groups."

The award is given in honor of former Arkansas Gov. and U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers. Following his retirement from the Senate in 1999, Bumpers became counsel at the law firm, then known as Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin and Kahn, in its Washington, D.C., office. Bumpers represented a wide range of clients spanning the medical, food and airline industries while with the firm from 2000-10. The firm, founded in 1942, now has approximately 400 attorneys in offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. It has given the annual writing award since the journal's inception and continued to honor the journal's students after Bumpers' death in 2016.

Arent Fox partner and the journal's current contact Karen Ellis Carr reviewed the submissions before recommending Dismuke's article for the award. Carr co-leads Arent Fox's AgTech industry group and counsels, advocates and litigates on behalf of food and agriculture companies and industry groups, with a focus on agricultural technology, food, biotechnology, pesticides and other chemical substances, and environmental law.

The Journal of Food Law and Policy has long been recognized as a leader in publishing articles and essays on food law and its impact on society. When the journal's inaugural issue was published in 2005, no other student-edited journal was devoted to this important topic, and few law schools recognized the emerging discipline of food law and policy. Since that time, the journal has led the nation in recognizing the significance of studying the legal framework of our food system. It is published twice a year and is edited by dedicated law students at the U of A School of Law.