SECTION NEWS

 Call for Nominations:

Tenth Annual Jefferson Fordham Awards
The ABA Section of State and Local Government Law established the Jefferson B. Fordham Awards Program in 1998 to recognize and honor the accomplishments of practitioners and institutions active in the varied areas of practice associated with state and local government law. The awards honor outstanding attorneys and law offices that have achieved professional excellence within this area of the profession. Awards may be presented in the following categories on an annual basis: (1) Law Office Accomplishment, (2) Lifetime Achievement, (3) Advocacy, and (4) Up & Comers.

 Who Was Jefferson Fordham?
The Fordham Awards commemorate the career of Jefferson B. Fordham, who was elected the first Chair of the Section of Local Government Law in 1949. During his years of outstanding service, the Section became the distinguished national resource for the advancement of state and local government law practice. His local government law case book, in which he addressed planning and finance, housing and blight, transportation and congestion, in short, the entire range of urban problems whose solutions required a larger concept of community, revolutionized the teaching of this field. He pioneered the concepts of home rule and the landmark decisions sustaining interdisciplinary studies under bar sponsorship. He was a visionary in teaching that the tough problems of local government did not lend themselves to simplistic solutions.

Submission of Nominations
Nominations must be received on or before April 30, 2007, by the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law. The Section’s Awards Committee will select recipients by July 6, 2007, and the awards will be presented at the ABA Annual Meeting at a special luncheon in San Francisco, California, on Friday, August 10, 2007.

Detailed Criteria for Selection
Below is a list of the four different areas for which the Jefferson Fordham Award may be presented on an annual basis and a brief description of the criteria used to select recipients in each category.

Law Office Accomplishment Award— Recognizes sustained outstanding performance or a specific extraordinary accomplishment by a state and local government law office. Eligible candidates include all state and local government public sector law offices, including departments or units within such offices.

Lifetime Achievement Award —Recognizes outstanding contributions to the practice of state and local government law by an individual over an entire career. This award is given for contributions over a number of years.

Advocacy Award— Recognizes outstanding advocacy or legal writing within the area of state and local government law. This award fosters and encourages excellence in advocacy, both written and otherwise, in state and local government law.

Up & Comers— Presented to a young practitioner (thirty-six or under) as defined by the ABA who, through his or her efforts and accomplishments, shows great promise to continue these contributions for future achievements.

 Guidelines for Submission
Nominations for recipients in each of the four categories must be submitted in the following format with all the information requested:

1. Full name, addresses, and telephone numbers of the nominee.

2. Name of the law office’s director or manager for the Government Law Office Award, including the size and mission of the office.

3. Summary of nominee’s or office’s achievements (brief explanation of outstanding or extraordinary public and/or professional services rendered (50 to 100 words)).

4. An explanation of the nominee’s performance and service; information regarding the time frame for the services described; accomplishments or superior contributions over a number of years; outstanding advocacy or legal writing; qualifications as a young lawyer for the Up & Comer’s Award whose past efforts and accomplishments show great promise to continue contributions for future achievement; assessment of the impact of the service for which you are nominating the individual or office (no more than two typed pages).

5. Names, titles, and phone numbers of three other persons (including at least one lawyer or jurist), who are familiar with the nominee’s performance, achievements, etc.

6. A brief statement about the nominator’s background that would assist the Awards Committee in evaluating the nominations.

Submit All Materials to:
Jackie Baker, ABA Section of State and Local Government Law, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 606l0, fax 312/988-5121, or e-mail jlbaker@staff.abanet.org.

 Presentations and Proposals in Miami

  During the ABA Midyear Meeting in Miami, Professor Michael Asimow (from left to right) of the University of California at Los Angeles, Professor Daniel R. Mandelker of Washington University of St. Louis, and Section Chair Edward J. Sullivan, Portland, Oregon, report to the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section Council on the work of the Joint Task Force on Land Use Procedures.

  Panelists for the “Promoting Diversity in the Practice of State, Local Government, and Public Sector Law” session, cosponsored with the Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division, included (from left to right): Lysia Bowling, State Attorney’s Office, 11th Judicial Circuit, Miami; Jorge L. Fernandez, City Attorney, Miami; and Iris Jones, Akin Gump and former president, International Municipal Lawyers Association, Washington, D.C.