HARRY B. SONDHEIM PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AWARD

2010 Inaugural Award Recipient:

Harry B. Sondheim

2010 Harry B. Sondheim Professional Responsibility Award

About the Harry B. Sondheim Professional Responsibility Award

Created in 2010, this award was established to recognize a member’s outstanding long-term contribution to the advancement of attorney professional responsibility standards in California. The inaugural recipient of this award is Harry B. Sondheim. The award was conferred upon Mr. Sondheim based on his many contributions to the advancement of professional responsibility, including the following accomplishments: (1) service as the chair of the State Bar’s Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct (in both the 1980’s as the original Chair of the Commission and also during its current iteration, for a total of approximately 14 years of volunteer service); (2) service as a member of the State Bar’s Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (“COPRAC”) for two separate non-consecutive terms (advancing to committee chair during both of his terms on COPRAC, for approximately 11 more years of volunteer service); (3) service as a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association ethics committee; (4) founder of the Professional Responsibility Unit of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (the first of its kind in the United States); and (5) service on the State Bar’s Anti-Bias Rule Committee. Based on the foregoing, Mr. Sondheim’s individual long-term contribution to the development of California’s professional responsibility standards is exemplary and laudable. The Rules of Professional Conduct developed by the Commission and the ethics opinions issued by COPRAC have been greatly influenced by his personal commitment to lawyer competence and public protection and the designation of the new award as the “Harry B. Sondheim Award” gives due recognition of his invaluable contribution to the State Bar and to the legal profession in California.

Nominations

This award is to be given every three years and the profile of a typical recipient would include a combination of some, but not necessarily all, of the following career achievements:

1. At least 15 years in the practice of law in California;
2. Service as a member of COPRAC, the Rules Revision Commission, or another State Bar or Supreme Court committee charged with studying a professional responsibility issue;
3. Service as a member of the Board of Governors;
4. Service as a member of a county bar or specialty bar association ethics committee, including specialty groups such as the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC) or Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL);
5. Experience teaching professional responsibility to law students, including as an adjunct;
6. Extensive writing and continuing education (MCLE) presentations on professional responsibility;
7. Service in the State Bar discipline system as a trial counsel, a respondent’s counsel or a State Bar Court Judge, or in the State Bar Professional Competence Office;
8. Service as a fee arbitrator;
9. Service as an expert witness on matters of professional responsibility;
10. Litigation experience in attorney professional liability or related subjects;
11. Experience giving risk management advice to lawyers, including activity as a member of law firm management or on behalf of legal malpractice insurance carriers;
12. Service as a member of the ABA House of Delegates on behalf of a group in the California caucus (i.e., a State Bar delegate or a local California bar association delegate);
13. Charitable financial contributions directed toward the support of professional responsibility programs or activities (i.e., sponsorship of educational events; or State Bar Foundation contributions); and
14. Noteworthy activity as a legislative or judicial proponent of advancing professional standards and the law governing lawyers in California (including, revision, interpretation, enactment or repeal of governing standards).

The above list is not intended to be exhaustive. In addition, achievement of all of the foregoing is not intended to be either necessary or sufficient for conferring the award. The objective of the award is to recognize a substantial long-term commitment to advancing the field of professional responsibility rather than any single discrete achievement.

All submissions are reviewed by a selection committee comprised of the following persons: the Chair or Co-Chairs of the Board’s Committee on Regulation and Admissions (or its successor Board committee); the Chair of COPRAC; the State Bar’s Chief Trial Counsel; and the State Bar’s Director of Professional Competence, which will provide a recommendation to the Board of Governors. The recipient is announced prior to the presentation of the award at the Statewide Annual Ethics Symposium held in the Spring. For more information, please contact Audrey Hollins at 415-538-167 or audrey.hollins@calbar.ca.gov.

Future Award Years

2013, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025, 2028

Past Harry B. Sondheim Professional Responsibility Award Recipients