Want
to highlight a member’s accomplishment? Send information
to Kim Anderson at anderski@staff.abanet.org.
The ABA General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division
is pleased to announce a call for nominations for its
annual difference makers awards program to recognize
extraordinary lawyers who “make a difference” by
breaking down barriers for women, people of color, people
with disabilities and regardless of sexual orientation. These
awards have been expanded to honor local attorneys whose
dedication has made a difference to the profession or
the community. Winners will be honored at the Division’s
2009 Fall Meeting and National Solo & Small Firm
Conference Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, California. For
a list of past winners, please go to http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/awards/diffmakers.html.
Applications must be submitted online or postmarked
by August 15, 2009.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Difference Makers Award: This award
honors deserving individuals: (a) who have made a
difference in the local community, (b) who can’t
otherwise qualify for any of the other Difference Makers
Awards because that individual is not an attorney, and
(c) who lives in the city or state where the Division
is meeting and where the Difference Makers Awards dinner
is being held.
Making a Difference by Breaking Barriers:
This award honors an attorney living or deceased who
broke barriers for gender, color, disabilities, or sexual
orientation.
Making a Difference Through Community Service: This
award honors an attorney living or deceased who made
a significant lifetime contribution to the local community
through community service (not necessarily through
bar work or pro bono work per se).
Making a Difference Through Pro Bono Work:
This award honors an attorney, law firm, corporate legal
department, government attorney office, or institution
in the legal profession that has made an outstanding
commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and
disadvantaged. Recognizes an outstanding local attorney
or group that does pro bono work.
Making a Difference Through Service to the Profession: This
award honors an attorney living or deceased who made
a significant contribution to the legal profession through
service to the profession. (i.e. frequent activities
in bar associations, committees and services).
The ABA General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division’s awards program is
underwritten by the generous support of West, a Thomson Reuters business.
The General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division of the American Bar
Association will recognize two lawyers and a bar association during its Division Council Meeting
Saturday, Aug. 1, at the Swissotel Hotel in Chicago as part of the ABA Annual Meeting.
Alan J. Klevan, managing partner of Klevan & Klevan LLP in Wellesley, Mass., will receive the Solo and
Small Firm Trainer Award for his significant contribution to educating lawyers and law students about the
opportunities of a solo or small firm practice. For several years Klevan has presented the program, “Going
Small or Solo…Now What?” at law schools throughout Massachusetts, reaching more than 400 students
and lawyers.
Seth Rosner, principal of the Seth Rosner Law Office in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., will receive the Solo and
Small Firm Lifetime Achievement Award for his active support of his community and the legal profession.
A member of the American Law Institute and the New York State Bar Foundation, Rosner has
demonstrated leadership in legal ethics at the local, state and national levels through his work with the
Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar
Association.
The Philadelphia Bar Association will receive the Solo and Small Firm Project Award for its Law Practice
Management Division, created to offer support for lawyers as they establish and maintain their practices.
The division provides business management, financial management, marketing and IT resources. It also
vets consultants and provides a match service for members.
“These award recipients represent the best aspects of solo and small-firm practice,” said Robert A.
Zupkus, chair of the GP|Solo Division. “By reaching out to others with information, knowledge and
service these award recipients are an inspiration to us in how they combine dedication to the profession
with the practice of law.”
West, a Thomson Reuters business, is the sponsor of the GP|Solo awards.
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional
membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to
improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work,
accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding
around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
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