Articles from American Inns of Court

Judy Perry Martinez has been selected to receive the prestigious 2025 American Inns of Court James E. Coleman Jr. Award for Professionalism in the Fifth Circuit. Martinez is of counsel at Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn LLP, where she also worked between 1982 and 2003 as a commercial litigator, partner, and member of the governing committee. Martinez will receive the award during the Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference in May.

Alan Vinegrad has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit. A senior counsel at Covington & Burling LLP in New York City and a member of the firm’s White-Collar Defense and Trial Practice Groups, Vinegrad represents individuals, corporations, and corporate boards in complex civil litigation and criminal and regulatory enforcement matters. He received the award in late September in New York City.

Richard Levenstein has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court A. Sherman Christensen Award, which recognizes an Inn member who has provided distinguished, exceptional, and significant leadership to the American Inns of Court movement at the local, state, or national level. Levenstein, a shareholder at Nason, Yeager, Gerson, Harris & Fumero PA in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, will receive the award in October at the American Inns of Court 2024 Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Andrew Turner of Turner Law Firm LLC in South Orange, New Jersey, has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Bankruptcy Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes a judge or attorney specializing in bankruptcy law who has exhibited ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession, the rule of law, and personal ethics and integrity. Turner will receive the award at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in Seattle in September.

Amber Carson has been selected to receive the 2024 American Inns of Court Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service, which honors an American Inn of Court member in practice 10 years or fewer for their excellence in public interest or pro bono activities. Carson, a partner at Gray Reed in Dallas, will receive the award at the American Inns of Court 2024 Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

M. Margaret McKeown has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics, which recognizes attorneys, judges, government officials, journalists, or others who have rendered exemplary service in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. McKeown, a circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, will receive the award at the 2024 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Richard L. Gabriel has been selected to receive the 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Tenth Circuit. Gabriel is a justice for the Colorado Supreme Court. He will receive the award during the Tenth Circuit Judicial Conference in September.

Karen S. Crawford has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit. A magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California since 2012, Crawford became the court’s presiding magistrate judge in April. She will receive the award during the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in July.

Judge Richard Linn has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Federal Circuit. Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President Bill Clinton in 1999, Linn took senior status in 2012. He will receive the award at the Federal Circuit Judicial Conference in May.

Nancy F. Atlas has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court James E. Coleman Jr. Award for Professionalism in the Fifth Circuit. After serving as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Atlas founded and provides mediation, arbitration, and other services through Atlas ADR, PLLC. Atlas will receive the award during the 2024 Judicial Conference of the Fifth Circuit in May.

Richard (Rick) Story has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Eleventh Circuit. Story, a senior judge for the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, will receive the award during the Judicial Conference of the Eleventh Circuit in May.

Terrence M. Connors has been selected to receive the 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit. Connors is a partner at Connors LLP in Buffalo, New York. Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will present the award to Connors at a later date.

David A. Grenardo is the 2023 winner of the prestigious Warren E. Burger Prize, a writing competition sponsored by the American Inns of Court to promote scholarship in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. To be presented at the 2023 Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States, the award recognizes Grenardo’s essay “Debunking the Major Myths Surrounding Mandatory Civility for Lawyers Plus Five Mandatory Civility Rules That Will Work.”

Susan H. Black has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics, which recognizes attorneys, judges, government officials, journalists, or others who have rendered exemplary service in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. Black, a circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, will receive the award in October at the 2023 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

William C. Koch Jr. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court A. Sherman Christensen Award, which recognizes an Inn member who has provided distinguished, exceptional, and significant leadership to the American Inns of Court movement at the local, state, or national level. Koch, president and dean of the Nashville School of Law, will receive the award in October at the 2023 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Derek A. Webb has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service, which honors an American Inn of Court member in practice 10 years or fewer for their excellence in public interest or pro bono activities. Webb, a research scholar at Yale Law School, will receive the award in October at the 2023 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Sarah Sharer Curley has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Bankruptcy Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes a judge or attorney specializing in bankruptcy law who has exhibited ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession, the rule of law, and personal ethics and integrity. The first woman appointed to be a bankruptcy judge in Arizona and first woman to serve as chief judge, Curley served as a judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Arizona from 1986 until her retirement in 2014. Curley will receive the award at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in Austin, Texas, in October.

Lisabeth Tabor Hughes has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit. Before retiring in early 2023, Hughes had served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Kentucky since 2007 and deputy chief justice since 2017. She will receive the award during the 2023 Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference.

Professor Frances Lee Watson has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. Until her retirement in late 2022, Watson was a clinical professor of law at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. She will receive the award during the 2023 Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference.

Robert L. Miller Jr. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. Miller has been a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana since 1985; he took senior status in 2016. Miller will receive the award during the 2023 Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference.

Phyllis J. Hamilton has been selected to receive the 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit. Hamilton, who will receive the award during the 2023 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, has been a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California since 2000. She served as chief judge from 2014 until 2021—the first African American woman to do so in the court’s history—and assumed senior status in 2021.

David S. Tatel has been selected to receive the 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the DC Circuit. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will present the award during the DC Circuit Judicial Conference. Since 1994, Tatel has been a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. He took senior status recently and will retire from the court in August and join the pro bono department at Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC.

Beryl A. Howell has been selected to receive the 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the DC Circuit. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will present the award during the DC Circuit Judicial Conference. Appointed to the court in 2010, Howell finished a seven-year term as the court’s chief judge in March.

James E. Lockemy has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Fourth Circuit. Having retired from his role as chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals in 2021 after 32 years on the bench, Lockemy now serves as an active retired judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals and is occasionally assigned to sit as an acting associate justice on the Supreme Court of South Carolina.

David Keltner has been selected to receive the 2023 American Inns of Court James E. Coleman Jr. Award for Professionalism in the Fifth Circuit. Judge Carl E. Stewart, Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, and BG Malinda E. Dunn, USA (Ret.) presented the award in San Antonio, Texas, on May 8. Keltner is a partner in the Fort Worth law firm Kelly Hart & Hallman.

Kathleen Wilkinson has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Third Circuit. (Her husband, Thomas G. Wilkinson Jr. will receive the same award.) Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares will present the awards in Philadelphia on May 10. Wilkinson is a partner at the Philadelphia firm Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman and Dicker LLP and specializes in complex civil litigation.

Thomas Wilkinson Jr. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Third Circuit. (His wife, Kathleen Wilkinson, will receive the same award.) Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares will present the award in Philadelphia on May 10. Wilkinson is a member of the Philadelphia law firm Cozen O’Connor, where he practices commercial litigation and is a leader of the Legal Profession Services Group. He also chairs the firm’s Professional Responsibility Committee.

Amelia Clegg is the 2022 winner of the prestigious American Inns of Court Warren E. Burger Prize for Writing, a competition designed to promote scholarship in the area of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. The award, which comes with a $5,000 prize, recognizes Clegg’s essay “All Lawyers Are Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others: Incivility Towards Female Attorneys from within the Legal Profession.”

Edward W. Mullins Jr. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court A. Sherman Christensen Award, which recognizes those who have provided exceptional leadership to the American Inns of Court movement. Mullins, a retired lawyer and former member of the American Inns of Court Board of Trustees, will receive the award at the 2022 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States October 29.

Justice Martin J. Jenkins has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics, which recognizes attorneys, judges, government officials, journalists, or others who have rendered exemplary service in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. Jenkins, an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, will receive the award at the 2022 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States October 29.

Alexandra Guio has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service, which honors an American Inn of Court member in practice 10 years or fewer for their excellence in public interest or pro bono activities. Guio will receive the award at the 2022 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States October 29.

Michael Kennedy has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit. Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will present the award to Kennedy later this fall. Known as the “ethics guru” of Vermont, Kennedy has been bar counsel for the state’s Professional Responsibility Program since 2012.

Adam G. Kelly has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Federal Circuit. Judge Richard Taranto will present the award to Kelly in Washington, D.C., on September 9. Kelly is a partner at the law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP in Chicago and focuses in patent litigation.

Judge M. Margaret McKeown has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit. Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia will present the award to McKeown during the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference July 17-21 in Big Sky, Montana. McKeown has been a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1998.

Richard G. Stewart Jr. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 James E. Coleman Jr. Professionalism Award for the Fifth Circuit. Stewart will receive the award from Kim J. Askew, Esquire, of DLA Piper LLP and American Inns of Court Executive Director BG Malinda E. Dunn, USA (Ret.) at the Judicial Conference for the Fifth Circuit in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 5.

Susan H. Black has been selected to receive the prestigious 2022 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Eleventh Circuit. Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. will present the award to Black at the Judicial Conference for the Eleventh Circuit on May 5 in Atlanta.

Jeff Boyd has been selected to receive the prestigious 2020 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Fifth Circuit. After a pandemic-related delay, Boyd will receive the award from Judge Carl E. Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and American Inns of Court Executive Director BG Malinda E. Dunn, USA (Ret.) at the Judicial Conference for the Fifth Circuit in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 5.

Judge Carl E. Stewart has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court A. Sherman Christensen Award, which recognizes those who have provided exceptional leadership to the American Inns of Court movement. Stewart will receive the award at the annual Celebration of Excellence held at the Supreme Court of the United States on April 2, 2022, which has been postponed due to the pandemic.

Jonathan Wolf has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service, which honors an American Inn of Court member in practice 10 years or fewer for their excellence in public interest or pro bono activities. Wolf will receive the award at the annual Celebration of Excellence held at the Supreme Court of the United States on April 2, 2022, which has been postponed due to the pandemic.

Judge David Campbell has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics, which recognizes attorneys, judges, government officials, journalists, or others who have rendered exemplary service in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. Campbell will receive the award at the annual Celebration of Excellence held at the Supreme Court of the United States on April 2, 2022, which has been postponed due to the pandemic.

Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit. A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, he served as the court’s chief judge—and the court’s first-ever African American chief judge—from 2014 until April this year. Nominated by President Bill Clinton, Cole joined the court of appeals in 1995.

Judge Matthew F. Kennelly has been selected to receive the 2021 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1998, Kennelly has been a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois since 1999.

Susan G. Kellman has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit. As the principal of her own law firm since 1981, Kellman is a criminal defense attorney who has tried more than 130 federal felony cases before juries in district courts around the country and argued more than 50 appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She has also been designated as lead counsel on several cases eligible for the death penalty.

Judge Harlin D. “Cooter” Hale has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court Bankruptcy Inn Alliance Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes a judge or attorney specializing in bankruptcy law who has exhibited ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession, the rule of law, and personal ethics and integrity.

Magistrate Judge Alice R. Senechal has been selected to receive the prestigious 2021 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Eighth Circuit. Senechal has served as a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota since 1990.

After a COVID-19-related delay, Thomas Campbell has been selected to receive the prestigious 2020 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. The pandemic has also forced the cancellation of this month’s Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference, where Campbell was to have received the award.