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In June of 1980, Eddie Hardaway, Jr. married Lena Bonner. In 1985, Robert, their only child was born. Eddie Hardaway, Jr., has an older son Eddie Duane Hardaway, from his first marriage. Eddie is also a father to his eldest nephew Linwood Bonner. In the middle of 1980, Eddie Hardaway, Jr. decided to run for public office. In November of 1980, Eddie Hardaway, Jr. became the first African American District Court Judge in Sumter County, Alabama. Judge Hardaway was re-elected to this position twice before being elected the first African American Presiding Circuit Court Judge in the 17th Judicial Circuit of Alabama in November of 1994. Judge Hardaway has been re-elected to this position four times and is currently one of the longest serving judges in the state of Alabama. He is currently the Chairman of the Sumter County Industrial Development Authority, a trustee at Alabama State University, a Past President of the University of Alabama National Alumni Association, a graduate of Leadership Alabama, the current Chairman of the Alabama New South Coalition-Sumter County Chapter, a Masonic Brother, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and member of First Baptist Church in Livingston, Alabama. In addition to being one of the most dedicated public servants in modern times, Judge Hardaway is a prolific businessman. He is the President and Founder of Hardaway’s Funeral Services, Inc. in York, Alabama.

Michael D. Ermert Award of Merit

Commissioners’ Award

This award was created by the Board of Bar Commissioners in 1998 to recognize individuals who have had a long-standing commitment to the improvement of the administration of justice in Alabama. The 2023 recipients are Joel Connally and Brian Strength.

Joel Connally is a native of Gadsden, Alabama. He graduated from Auburn University in 1993, worked for two years and then went to law school, graduating from Alabama in 1998. Joel is a member of Strength & Connally, LLC, in Montgomery and Tuskegee. He provides general counsel to individuals and businesses, with a focus on commercial, financial and asset litigation. He has also developed a unique niche of pro bono work for wealthy people. Joel is married to Amy Connally, a lawyer with the Retirement Systems of Alabama. They have one son and are active in his school, their church, and various civic and charitable organizations. Joel is serving his second term as a bar commissioner for the 15th Judicial Circuit.

Brian Strength was born in Valley, Alabama. He received his bachelor’s of science degree from Auburn University in 1994. In 1998, he graduated cum laude from The University of Alabama School of Law. Prior to starting his own firm in 2008, Brian worked for the law firm of Bradley, Arrant, Boult, Cummings primarily representing defendants in civil litigation. Brian also was a member of the Cochran Firm and served as managing attorney in its Tuskegee, Alabama office. Since graduating law school, his practice has focused exclusively on civil litigation, including products liability, employment, accidents involving large trucks, and wrongful deaths. He is a member of the Alabama State Bar, the Federal Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

William D. Scruggs, Jr., Service to the Bar Award

This award was created in 2002 in honor of the late Bill Scruggs, former state bar president to recognize outstanding and dedicated service to the Alabama State Bar. The 2023 recipient is Halron W. Turner. His son accepted the award on his behalf, as Hal was traveling during the time of the awards ceremony.

Graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama in August 1981.Graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in May 1984. Admitted to the Alabama State Bar in September 1984. Admitted to practice before Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal and the Southern, Middle, and Northern Federal District Courts of Alabama. Serves as managing partner of Turner, Onderdonk, Kimbrough & Howell, PA of Chatom, Alabama. Served as Assistant District Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit from 1984 until 2020. Served as Bar Commissioner for the 1st Judicial Circuit from 2013 to 2022.

President’s Award

The President’s Award is presented to members of the bar who best exemplify the Alabama State Bar motto, “Lawyers Render Service.” The recipients are chosen by the current bar president. The 2023 recipients, selected by 2022-2023 President Gibson Vance are:

• Brannon Buck
• Mark Boardman
• J. Mark Debro
• Felicia Long
• Brett Holsombeck
• Carmen Howell
• Angela Kennedy
• Elizabeth Smithart

Albert VreeLand Pro Bono Award

The Albert Vreeland Pro Bono Award is presented to an individual who demonstrates outstanding pro bono efforts through the active donation of time to the civil representation of those who cannot otherwise afford legal counsel and by encouraging greater legal representation in, and acceptance of, pro bono cases.

Tara Rose 

Tara Rose arrived in Alabama in 2015 after serving 10 years in the United States Air Force. She graduated Thomas Goode Jones School of Law in 2018. She began practicing law and partnering with a local attorney until 2022, when she established Rose Family Law. During this time, she remained actively engaged within the community by offering free legal counselling and volunteering with a local program that targeted at-risk youth.

Tara volunteers with both the Alabama State Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program and the Montgomery Volunteer Lawyers Program. Through these two programs Tara provided over 92 hours of pro bono legal assistance. She took 18 extended representation cases, many of which were contested family law matters, attended 12 counsel and advice clinics and 2 Lawyer for a Day in District Court clinics. In 2022 Tara received the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyer of the Year award.

Law Firm Award – Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP – Montgomery Office

Bradley’s Montgomery office, was founded in 2000 to provide the firm with a presence in the state’s capital. Bradley’s attorneys in Montgomery uphold our reputation for maintaining the highest ethical standards while providing practical solutions to our clients’ legal and business challenges. Like the entire Bradley law firm, the Montgomery office makes it a priority to contribute to the community. In 2022 Bradley attorneys provided 61 hours of pro bono service to the Montgomery Volunteer Lawyers Program and participated in 38 counsel and advice clinics. Bradley also hosts CLEs, including one in partnership with the YWCA of Central Alabama on obtaining protection from abuse orders. They also provide the Douglas Arant Public Interest Fellowship which allows a Bradley summer associate the opportunity to work with the public service organization of their choice for four of the 10 weeks they are employed with the firm. As stated by Peyton Faulk, Executive Director of the Montgomery VLP, “Bradley encourage their attorneys to tap into their passions and use their talents in a way that will make life better for the people and communities around them.”

Mediator Award – Jon E. Lewis

Jon Lewis volunteers in the Jefferson County District Court’s Friday Double Pro Se Docket Mediation Program. Jon also provides pro bono mediation services through the Alabama First Landlord Tenant Mediation Program. This program, which began during 2022, provides free mediation services to landlords and tenants for evictions, unlawful detainers and any landlord/tenant dispute. Judges Grant, Davis and Cook have ordered landlords and tenants to mediation in Jefferson County under the program. Jon is a regular pro bono mediator and has mediated 11 cases for 11 landlords and 21 tenants. He has been instrumental in promoting mediation awareness to mediators, attorneys and the public. He served as an instructor/panelist on three free webinars which were co-sponsored by the Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution and the Dispute Resolution Section of the Alabama State Bar.

Law Student Award – Anna M. Spidle

Anna just completed law school and is preparing to sit for the bar exam. She volunteered with the Montgomery County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program during her second and third years of law school. In 2022 she spent 111 hours in district court docket clinics and assisted with several extended representation cases. Anna also assists with recruiting other law students to provide pro bono services through the MVLP.

Public Interest Attorney Award – Kelly F. McTear

Professor McTear has regularly earned the MVLP’s Order of the Samaritan award for representation of indigent clients and was named a Fellow of the MVLP in 2021 for this work. Additionally, she has represented over 1000 indigent victims of domestic violence during her legal career, both at Legal Services Alabama and as the director of our law school’s Domestic Violence Clinic. For the past two years, she has provided pro bono mediation services to Montgomery County’s District Courts as director of our Mediation Clinic, which during that time provided pro bono mediation services in more than 125 cases. There has not been a time in Professor McTear’s career when she was not providing assistance to indigent litigants.

In Fall 2023, Professor McTear is embarking on another huge project directed at providing services to indigent populations. In August 2023, after YEARS of advocacy, work, and planning, Faulkner Law will launch its Generational & Ancestral Property (GAP) Clinic. Professor McTear will be leading the effort to make a meaningful impact in the field of heirs property in Montgomery and throughout the Black Belt. This new project is a first-of-its-kind in Alabama, but Professor McTear has long advocated that this much needed area of legal service is a perfect fit for law student work.

WOMEN’S SECTION AWARDS

Maud McLure Kelly Award

Maud McLure Kelly was the first woman to be admitted to the practice of law in Alabama. In 1907, Kelly’s performance on the entrance exam at the University of Alabama Law Department merited her admission as a senior, the second woman ever to have been admitted to the school.

Celia Collins

Celia Collins graduated from Randolph Macon Women’s College and received her Law Degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law, after which she became the first woman associate to join Johnstone Adams and subsequently the first women partner. She is recognized in her practice areas of Employment and Labor Law by both Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. She was also recognized by Super Lawyers in their 2022 Top 50 Women Mid-South List and by Best Lawyers on several occasions as Mobile’s Lawyer of the Year in management side Labor Law, Employment Law and Employment Litigation. Throughout her career she has been committed to women issues in both her professional and community activities. On the professional level she served as Chair of the ASB Task Force on Women in the Profession and the Standing Committee on Women in the Profession, which evolved into the ASB’s Women’s Section. She currently serves on the Women’s Section Executive Committee. Celia is a member of the Mobile Bar Association Women Lawyers, who honored her with their 2016 Trailblazer Award, and a Board member and previous officer of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations. In the Community she has served as President of the YWCA, on the Board of the Women’s Business Center and as Chair of a local women’s political PAC. At the State Bar, Celia has served as a Bar Examiner, a Bar Commissioner, and as Chair of the Labor and Employment Section.

Susan B. Livingston Award

This award is presented by the Women’s Section in memory of Susan Bevill Livingston who practiced law at Balch & Bingham. The criteria for this award are the following elements and nominations should include information and materials that reflect elements of a continual commitment to those around her as a mentor, a sustained level of leadership throughout her career, a commitment to her community in which she practices.

Leslie R. Barineau

Leslie graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cumberland School of Law and began her career at a small boutique law firm handling plaintiff’s personal injury and workers’ compensation cases as well as domestic and probate matters. After spending five years with this firm, she opened her own law firm – Barineau & Barineau. Leslie’s dedication to the profession is evidenced by her extensive participation in national, state, and local bar activities as well as her continued involvement at Cumberland as an adjunct professor teaching workers’ compensation. She strongly believes that participation in these organizations provides an opportunity not only to help others through the various programs, but it promotes camaraderie among the lawyers.

Currently she is President of the Alabama Law Foundation, in the American Bar Association House of Delegates as an Alabama State Bar delegate, and on various committees and sections with the Birmingham Bar Association, Birmingham Bar Foundation, and the Alabama State Bar. She has served as President with the National Conference of Bar Foundations and President of the Birmingham Bar Foundation. She served three terms as an Alabama State Bar Commissioner and was on the Birmingham Bar Association Executive Committee. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Solo/Small Firm Section of the Birmingham Bar Association, the Women’s Section of the Birmingham Bar Association, and the Fellows Program for the Birmingham Bar Foundation. Leslie is a member of Canterbury United Methodist and served two four-year terms on the Board of Directors for the United Methodist Children’s Home. Leading by example and garnering the respect of her peers, Leslie champions the importance of being involved to her colleagues. “It’s what we must do for our profession.” Leslie enjoys spending time with her son and his family, especially her granddaughter, Olivia.

Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship

To encourage the next generation of women lawyers, the Women’s Section of the Alabama State Bar established the Justice Janie L. Shores Scholarship Fund. Named in honor of the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Alabama, the scholarship is awarded to an outstanding woman who is an Alabama resident attending law school in Alabama.

Antoinette Richardson
Antoinette currently attends Birmingham School of Law and will finish out her first year in August 2023. Outside of school, she is a mother of two sons and employed full-time. During her spare time, she enjoys gathering for family functions, a game of bowling, or going to the movies. She is looking forward to completing her legal studies and pursuing her career in law.