News Post

STATE BAR LEADERSHIP FORUM RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD FROM AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

Montgomery, Alabama, July 30, 2013 –An elite committee of the American Bar Association (ABA), the Standing Committee on Professionalism, has selected the Alabama State Bar’s Leadership Forum as one of three recipients to receive the 2013 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award.

The award will be presented at a luncheon on August 9 during the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

The Gambrell Award is the nation’s leading program honoring the best professionalism programs and practices of law schools, bar associations, professionalism commissions and other law-related organizations.

State Bar President Anthony A. Joseph of Birmingham (Maynard Cooper & Gale PC) said, “This award validates the Leadership Forum as a national example of innovative professionalism programs. Participants are required to undergo a rigorous education and training process focusing on leadership, ethics and career development. Noting a wide-variety of teaching methods in more than 60 sessions with 200 faculty members, the ABA committee was particularly impressed with the program’s ground-breaking and exceptional advancement of service-minded leadership training within the bar and the larger community. They commended the state bar program for its innovative, thoughtful and exceptional content, for its powerful and continuing impact on emerging leaders in the bar community and for the extraordinary example it has established, that others may emulate.”

In announcing the award the ABA committee said: “The judges found the Alabama program to be a beacon of excellence for bars across the nation in this critically important developmental area.”

The Leadership Forum, which is highly competitive, began in 2005 and only accepts 30 attorneys annually. Forty percent of those who apply are chosen in any one year. The Forum has an alumni base of 262 lawyers and in January, 2014, will celebrate its 10th year as it focuses on relevant and strategic training for an emerging generation of lawyers.

The 17,300-member Alabama State Bar is dedicated to promoting the professional responsibility, competence and satisfaction of its members, improving the administration of justice and increasing public understanding and respect for the law.