ABA - Commission on Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Paula E. Boggs

Paula Boggs was born in the United States, but spent some of her formative years in Europe. During her time there, she lived in settings that exposed her to a variety of cultural norms. Because of the solid upbringing that her parents instilled to her, she was able to adapt and thrive amid a diverse environment. This experience would reap great benefits for Ms. Boggs as she embarked on a career in the legal profession.

After Ms. Boggs graduated from high school, she received a four-year scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies. She then received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. In 1984 she served in the Office of the Army General Counsel, and then in 1997, while still an Army officer, she served as a staff attorney in the White House during Iran-Contra. Ms. Boggs has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law. In these settings, Ms. Boggs honed her skills as a leader and mentor and has always provided a helping hand to those in need. From her speeches and panel presentations, to her guidance in career choices, she has always wanted everyone to be able to reach the pinnacle of their potential in all endeavors.

Ms. Boggs has dedicated her life to doing her very best. It is for that very reason she is successful. In her positions as a military lawyer, White House staff counsel, assistant US attorney for the government and partner in an internationally recognized firm (Preston Gates & Ellis), Ms. Boggs has expressed and furthered the call for greater diversity within the legal profession. She has spoken and contributed materials, time and insight on diversity on numerous occasions. She has paved the way for many to follow in her footsteps, presenting herself as a standard to which all can strive and achieve. She has always been committed to supporting not only the African-American legal community, but also nurtures the development of other lawyers of color and women attorneys as well. She has given her time to pressing issues such as Call to Action, a program that promotes measurable interaction between in-house departments and outside firms to ensure success, and lends her name to initiatives that credibly further diversity in the profession. Ms Boggs is concerned with performance, not rhetoric.

Ms. Boggs served as Vice-President, Legal for Products, Operations, and Information Technology for the Dell Computer Corporation. There she managed lawyers, support staff and budget supporting all product lines. While at Dell, she also managed the legal support for litigation, employment, intellectual property, and global sales to consumers, small and medium businesses. She currently serves as the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary to the Starbucks Coffee Company. Since joining the company in 2002, Ms. Boggs has continued to drive diversity as a compelling business case, not just a social responsibility or option. She has shown her dedication to diversity by expanding the ranks of lawyers of color and women attorneys in the legal department. And she continues to reach out to the community with impactful mentoring programs that she has implemented at the Starbucks Company. One of her summer clerks said these telling words about Ms. Boggs…”She could have ignored me, but she didn’t. I was encouraged because she used her success not only to promote diversity but to nurture it and pave the way for minority lawyers.” Along with that, she has created an internal diversity committee designed to evaluate diversity hiring of outside counsel, conduct outreach to minority bar associations and raise awareness to diversity issues both inside and outside Starbucks. At Starbucks, she has also implemented Starbucks outside counsel guidelines that include diversity expectations of outside counsel and law firms.

Ms. Boggs has led a life of meaning and substance that will forever ripple through the lives that she touches. She is a champion and trailblazer for diversity and continues to help educate and stress the significance and importance of diversity to all.

Harry Gee, Jr.

Born in a remote village in South China, Harry Gee, Jr. immigrated to the United States with his mother when he was two years old. At the age of 16 Harry, as the eldest child, was given enormous responsibility in running his family’s restaurant in the Houston area. At his parents urging to become college educated, Harry attended Rice University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Economics in 1960. Harry went on to attain his law degree in 29 months from the University of Texas. In May of 1963, Harry was appointed as Assistant Attorney General of the State of Texas and in 1966, he began his immigration practice in Houston, Texas where he has been serving the public for the last 40 years.

An immigrant dedicated to the community, Harry’s stellar career has put him in a position to pursue his true passion, serving the community. In 1999, Harry was elected as chair of LEAP, a national organization promoting the advancement of Asians into positions of leadership within their companies. Harry has been actively involved in the following organizations: Past Chair and Senior Fellow of The American Leadership Forum, President of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, President of the Houston Taipei Society, President of Sister Cities of Houston and Chair of the Houston Council on Foreign Relations. Harry has also been a board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Mickey Leland Kibbutz Program, the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the Greater Houston Partnership. He is the recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the NCCJ.

Over the years Harry has personified excellence in demonstrating a substantial commitment to racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession. Harry served as President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, 1990-91. During his term, NAPABA established the Thomas Tang Moot Court competition. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Chairman of the Texas Chapter of AILA for two years, and President of the Asian American Bar Association of Houston.

In 2005, Harry was presented the prestigious Leon Jaworski Award for his significant community service by the Houston Bar Association.

To carry on his legacy, Harry has established a Presidential Scholarship at the University of Texas in the field of Immigration Law in loving memory of his parents who came to the United States with dreams and goals for a better life for their family. Harry has passed on their dreams to the many clients he has helped over his distinguished career and in assisting in the careers of many young lawyers in the field of immigration law.

Throughout the years, marathon runners, table-tennis champions, water color artists, professors, engineers, domestics and astronauts have all walked through the front doors of Harry Gee Jr. and Associates searching for a better life in America. Ultimately, the one thing Harry is most proud of is his family. Harry has been married to his wife Antje for over 30 years and has three children: Andrew, Claudia, and Sonja who are all graduates of Rice University.

Michael D. Marin

To appreciate Michael Marin's passion for his community and the legal profession, you must understand Michael as a person. He was raised in the poverty-laden farm community of Canutillo, Texas, which is as far west as you go without leaving the Lone Star State. His mother, a Mexican-immigrant with a second grade education, spoke no English. His Mexican-American father dropped out of school after the eighth grade in order to work in the fields and to help his family during the depression. As a boy, Michael spent summers in the hot Texas sun picking onions and tomatoes alongside his mom. As a teenager, he mowed lawns, washed dishes and bused tables at a local restaurant. His earnings went to help support the needs of the family.

Spurred by his parents desire for their son to have a better life, Michael attended the United States Air Force Academy for three years. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at El Paso and then served on active-duty in the Air Force as a heavy equipment mechanic while he obtained an M.B.A from Golden Gate University. Realizing that lawyers wielded enormous influence in law and politics, Michael entered the Harvard Law School in 1991.

True to his roots, Michael returned to Texas upon graduation in 1994. He joined Vinson & Elkins LLP (V&E) in Austin, where he cultivated an active and successful civil trial practice. In 2003, the firm named Michael a Partner. In addition to promotion to Partner, Michael has also risen to significant leadership positions in numerous community and bar organizations including the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin (President); Austin Bar Association (President); Legal Aid of Central Texas (President-Elect); the State Bar of Texas (Director); CASA of Travis County (Director); and KLRU-TV (public television affiliate) (Director). Michael has received the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award (2001) from the Austin Young Lawyers Association, the Austin Under 40 Award (Law, 2002), as well as other numerous other awards. His service has been recognized by having been named a Fellow of the Austin Bar (Life Fellow), Texas, and American Bar Foundations.

The true hallmark of Michael's career has been the consistent and persistent creation of opportunities for others. As his record demonstrates, Michael has been instrumental in creating and implementing numerous mentoring programs and scholarship initiatives to provide opportunities for students from underrepresented populations to become lawyers. He has personally raised tens of thousands of dollars for scholarship funds for Latino students who aspire to careers in law. He spearheaded the creation of the Award Winning “Pick Me! A Jury of My Peers” jury project which teaches high school seniors the importance of jury service. He is a Co-Leader of the V&E Jury Project which uses litigation, education and legislation to teach citizens the importance of jury service. As part of the V&E Jury Project, Michael helped to draft and testified on behalf of legislation to increase jury pay in Texas for the first time in 50 years.

In summary, Michael's personal background and his native passion have compelled him to become a leader in both his community and the legal profession.

Rachel Patrick

For the past 26 years, Rachel Patrick has worked tirelessly for the American Bar Association in several key positions to promote equal opportunities for individuals and lawyers of color. She has mentored, inspired and helped to develop successful careers of thousands of law students and lawyers of color during her tenure at the Association.

Ms. Patrick‘s goal of promoting equal opportunities did not begin with her legal career. Prior to attending DePaul College of Law she spent 12 challenging years teaching in the inner city for the Chicago Public Schools. As a teacher, she mentored, inspired and assisted hundreds of disadvantaged students of color to seek careers in law, medicine and education.

Ms. Patrick’s first encounter with the challenges of promoting equal opportunities for lawyers of color was with the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s (YLD) Minorities in the Profession Committee where she was fortunate to serve with two young lawyers of color who would change the history of the Association.

Her work in the YLD with Dennis Archer and Robert Grey inspired her to serve as the Director of the Task Force on Minorities in the Profession where she was instrumental in assisting with the drafting and creation of the Association’s Goal 9 and the Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession.

She served as the first director of the Commission and became a legendary part of its history making programs and projects under the leadership of Mr. Archer and Mr. Grey. Ms. Patrick’s unwavering dedication, commitment and hard work helped to catapult the Commission from a little known entity to one of the most outstanding programs created in the legal profession.

Ms. Patrick was a crucial part of the teams that created the Minority Counsel Demonstration Program, the Conference of Minority Partners, Multicultural Women Attorney’s Network and the Spirit of Excellence Award. All of these highly successful programs have assisted and recognized the outstanding contributions of lawyers of color and help shape the future of diversity in the legal profession.

Among her many outstanding contributions to the profession is her work with bar associations of color. Ms. Patrick has provided special assistance, developed programs and projects and assisted bar associations of color with their growth and development. She has been nationally recognized and received numerous awards from the National Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, National Association of Black Women Attorneys and most recently the Hispanic Law Students of Chicago.

Ms. Patrick has made outstanding contributions to the legal profession through the hundreds of speeches, articles, presentations, seminars and workshops that she has given on the issues of equal opportunity, diversity, affirmative action, civil rights and social justice issues. She continues to dedicate herself to the goal of promoting equal justice for all in her work as the Director of the ABA Council on Racial & Ethnic Justice. Ms. Patrick’s commitment and dedication have made a positive and profound impact on the lives and futures of thousands of law students and lawyers of color.

Honorable Ann Claire Williams

With her appointment by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, at 35, Ann Claire Williams became the youngest district court judge appointed in the Northern District of Illinois and one of the youngest judges ever appointed to the federal bench. In 1999, President Clinton appointed her to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where she currently sits. She is the first and only African-American to serve on the Seventh Circuit.

Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Williams to the Supreme Court Fellows Program Commission (2005 -2008). He has previously appointed her Chair of the Court Administration and Case Management Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1993 to 1997. She served as Treasurer and President of the Federal Judges Association, an organization of almost 900 district and appeals court federal judges, from 1995-2001. Williams co-founded Minority Legal Education Resources, Inc., an organization that has for more than

25 years, taught minority and other lawyers how to pass the bar. She also taught case management skills to new judges at the Federal Judicial Center for seven years, continues to teach trial advocacy with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), and instructs at law schools around the country. She has led delegations to Ghana to train members of the Ghanaian judiciary, and she has taught trial and appellate advocacy at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia at the Hague and at the Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania.

Among others, Williams serves on the boards of trustees of NITA, the University of Notre Dame, and Equal Justice Works, whose 100 attorney fellowship program she created. She chairs the Just The Beginning Foundation, an organization she helped found to celebrate the accomplishments of African American federal judges. She has received numerous awards from schools and legal organizations including the Chicago Lawyer’s 2000 person of the year and the 2005 Arabella Babb Mansfield Award from the National Association of

Women Lawyers. Following law school, she clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Robert A. Sprecher. She then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, where she became a criminal division Chief. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University, a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. Following law school, she clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Robert A. Sprecher.

Roderick A. Palmore

Roderick A. Palmore was born in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. One of five children, his parents instilled in the family the need, importance and value of education. They also taught him that, through hard work and dedication, all things are possible. The admonition that his parents gave to him was the very thing that set Mr. Palmore on the path of success. He excelled scholastically and received his B.A. in economics from Yale University in 1974. He then went on to receive his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Chicago in 1977.

His legal career began at a law firm in his native Pittsburgh, and after a short while, he returned to Chicago to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. There he would begin to evolve as the great lawyer and activist we know today. In 1982 he joined the law firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon as the second African-American associate. Within four years he became the first African-American partner of the firm. In 1993 Mr. Palmore left Wildman, Harrold to join another Chicago based law firm, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal as, once again, the first African-American partner in the firm. He worked in the litigation department where his clients included major corporations like General Motors, McDonald’s and IBM. In Mr. Palmore’s interactions with his corporate client General Motors, he was introduced to Harry J. Pearce, the former Vice-President and General Counsel of General Motors. He was instrumental in retaining Mr. Palmore as outside counsel for the corporation; in fact it was a part of his goal to build a team of talented, hardworking and diverse lawyers to serve as the outside counsel to General Motors. Through the guidance and mentoring that Mr. Palmore received from Mr. Pearce he was able to handle substantial matters for General Motors.

In 1996 Mr. Palmore became Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of Sara Lee Corporation. Not only was he the first African-American to serve in this position, but he later became the first general counsel to hold the title of Executive Vice President at Sara Lee. During his tenure as General Counsel, Mr. Palmore has achieved workforce diversity, with 20% of the lawyers in Sara Lee’s Law Department being minorities and over 40% of the lawyers being women. In 2003 Mr. Palmore developed the Preferred PartnerProgram. This program classifies Sara Lee’s primary outside counsel by their devotion to diversity.

Not only has Mr. Palmore helped further diversity within the corporate world, but he has reached the entire legal profession. He initiated the “Call to Action,” a program focused on addressing the retention, promotion and direction of business to the minority communities of the legal profession. A former co-worker of his stated: “I worked for Rick for three and one-half years at Sara Lee and know firsthand that the Call to Action is just one example of a deeply- held commitment to the need for diversity in our profession. Rick’s leadership, which is having a tangible positive impact in improving diversity, has been unique and exemplary.” Mr. Palmore also sits as one of the members of the ABA Minority Counsel Program (MCP) Steering Committee. MCP is a program dedicated to educating and emphasizing the importance of diversity in the legal profession, in law firms big and small as well as in corporations.

Mr. Palmore also is a director of Nuveen Investments, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Association of Corporate Counsel and the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. Mr. Palmore has broken many barriers on his road to success. In a profession that has very little minority representation in the corporate sector, law firms, corporate legal departments and corporate boards of directors, Mr. Palmore has been a pioneer in each area.

Mr. Palmore has overcome many obstacles to be where he is today, not only for his own benefit, but for the benefit of those to come. Through his determination and skill, he is helping to create an environment for all minorities and women to thrive in the legal profession today.

Spirit of Excellence Awards

The winners for the year 2006 are...