E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards
The annual E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards recognize projects contributing to the understanding of professionalism among lawyers. The awards are presented annually by the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism in the amount of $3,500 each. Law schools, bar associations, law firms and other law-related organizations are eligible for the awards.
The Gambrell Awards were established in 1991 and are named for E. Smythe Gambrell, ABA and American Bar Foundation president from 1955 to 1956. Gambrell founded the Legal Aid Society in Atlanta, where he practiced law from 1922 until his death in 1986.
Now Available:
- Nomination forms for the 2008 Gambrell Awards
- Guidelines for the 2008 Gambrell Awards
Find out more about our winners:
Indianapolis Bar Association Professionalism Initiative
The Indianapolis Bar Association (IBA), aided by grants from the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, launched a Professionalism Initiative in January 2002 to promote positive lawyer images in the community and eliminate client distrust and dissatisfaction. Some of the initiatives undertaken by the Association include: 1) the Tenets of Professional Courtesy, which are distributed to lawyers and displayed in legal offices and courtrooms and serve as a benchmark for professional demeanor within the legal community; 2) the Bar Leader Series, a leadership development and professional enhancement program for young lawyers in their first three to ten years of practice; 3) the Applied Professionalism Course for New Attorneys, which is a semi-annual full-day program geared to attorneys in their first three years of practice; 4) the “Surviving and Thriving in the Practice of Law,” day-long program entitled for third-year law students; 5) Judicial Criticism Response, which educates the public and responds to instances of perceived unfair criticism of judges; 6) Lawyer Criticism Response, which educates the public in instances where an attorney has been unfairly criticized within the media; 7) a Professionalism Award, which was created in 2004 to honor excellence in the Indianapolis Bar Association; 8) Lawyers Care Project, which has sent more than 200 care packages to members of the Indiana National Guard serving in the Middle East.
The goal of the Initiative is to reduce image or perception-related barriers that may a) prevent some practitioners from rendering a high quality of service in the practice of law, b) prevent the public from obtaining legal advice, and c) create distance in some attorney-client relationships. All of the activities listed above stress honesty, integrity, and service, which are the benchmarks of professionalism.
Vermont Law School’s General Practice Program
Vermont Law School’s General Practice Program (GPP), established in 1987, is a two-year certificate program that integrates substantive law, professional skills and professional responsibility using a simulated-based methodology. Students function as practicing attorneys in a small law firm over a two-year period, and learn by doing the tasks of general practitioners in their daily representation of clients. A team of 12 faculty members act as senior partners and guide and evaluate student performance. The GPP integrates professional skills and values with 13 substantive areas of law—mostly those common to general practitioners, such as domestic relations, business planning, estates and bankruptcy. A mentorship component, which pairs first year GPP students with local practitioners was added to the program in 2004 and melded with the ABA Mentoring Certificate Program in 2006 in order to provide students and mentors an opportunity to discuss issues such as what it means to be a lawyer, the ethical pitfalls in fee arrangements, civility among attorneys, the ethics of client development and marketing a law practice.
The goals of the GPP are to provide an alternative to the traditional law school curriculum by allowing students to create a sense of professional self while still in law school. More than being simply repositories of substantive knowledge, students actually practice the skills needed for effective lawyering. They learn the importance of ethical conduct and the complexities involved in resolving ethical issues. By putting professionalism issues front and center, the program communicates to students that issues of professional conduct deserve study and reflection. This foundation assists in their continued development throughout the rest of their professional lives.
Tenth Judicial District/Wake County Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee
In 1991, the Tenth Judicial District and Wake County Bar Association established a Professionalism Committee with the goal of identifying and addressing issues affecting members of the local bar in the broadest sense of professional responsibility, including the member’s obligation to the system of justice, their clients, themselves, their colleagues, and their community. Some of the projects the Committee has undertaken include: 1) the annual Joseph Branch Professionalism Award, which was established in 1991 to honor attorneys who are universally recognized as exemplifying the ideals of professionalism displayed by Joseph Branch, former Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court; 2) development of a Professionalism Creed, which was adopted by the Bar Association in 1997 and which is distributed to all new members; 3) implementation of the Professionalism Support Initiative, which provides confidential peer counseling for attorneys and judges perceived to have evidenced a lack of professionalism; 4) implementation of an annual round-table discussion on ethics and professionalism issues; and 5) organization of a county-wide mentoring program.
The Committee helps promote professionalism by: 1) recognizing lawyers who exemplify professionalism in their practices; 2) promoting relationships among lawyers who might not otherwise have professional contact with each other; 3) building a strong relationship and rapport between the Bar and the bench; and 4) recognizing and addressing quality of life issues.
