Loren Miller Legal Services Award
ABOUT THE LOREN MILLER AWARD
The Loren Miller Legal Services Award, named after the late Loren Miller, an African American lawyer and judge who was a leader in the civil rights movement, was established in 1977 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the State Bar of California. It is considered a life-time achievement award and is given annually to a lawyer admitted to practice in California who has demonstrated long-term commitment to legal services and who has personally done significant work in extending legal services to the poor. Previous award recipients include staff of legal services organizations such as directors of litigation and executive directors, and private bar attorneys.
GUIDELINES, ELIGIBILITY, AND CRITERIA
General criteria to be used in the selection of the award recipient include one or more of the following:
- Demonstrated dedication to the development and delivery of legal services
- Community organizing to increase access to the legal system
- Performance of legal services with a demonstrated long-term commitment to providing legal services
- Successful precedent-setting litigation which benefited the poor
- Successful legislative advocacy on behalf of under-represented persons
Members of the State Bar Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services (SCDLS) are ineligible to receive the award during their service on the committee, and for one year following their departure from the committee.
- Self-nominations are accepted.
- Repeat nominations are accepted with updated information.
- The nomination form and nominee’s current resume or biography with work history and dates are required and must be submitted electronically as Word documents.
- In addition, at least one (1) but no more than five (5) letters in support of the nomination that include citations to reported cases, references to legislative and organizing efforts, successful projects and relevant newspaper or other articles about the nominee’s professional accomplishments.
- Letters of support and additional supporting material must be submitted with the nomination form and resume as individual PDF files, except for articles which can be submitted via live URL links. Video web links, CDs and DVDs will not be accepted.
- Letters of support should be addressed to the “Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services”.
- All attachments must be itemized in the body of the e-mail message.
- The total size of all documents attached to a single e-mail cannot exceed 10 MB. If necessary, send remaining documents in a second e-mail.
- The page limit on letters of support and additional supporting materials (not including the resume) is 25 pages.
- Nomination materials should be emailed to the attention of Kimberly Warmsley at LorenMillerandProBonoAwards@calbar.ca.gov by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, March 15, 2012.
- The e-mail subject line should include “2012 Loren Miller Award” and the nominee’s name. If attachments are submitted in two e-mails, please add “(1 of 2)” and “(2 of 2)” to the subject line.
- Please do not include more than one nomination per e-mail.
- Nominations will only be accepted electronically. If it is a hardship to submit a nomination electronically, please contact Ms. Warmsley at the e-mail address above, or 415-538-2176 about an alternative method for submission.
- Nominators will receive e-mail notification acknowledging receipt of each nomination within five (5) business days. Please contact Ms. Warmsley to confirm receipt of submission if needed.
Please answer all questions thoroughly. If critical information is missing, the nomination may be disqualified. If information needs to be clarified, the nominator may be contacted.
Each nominee will receive e-mail notification that she or he has been nominated for an award with copy to the nominator.
SELECTION PROCESS AND AWARD PRESENTATION
The State Bar Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services (SCDLS) will review the nominations and submit its recommendation to the State Bar Board of Governors in July for final approval. The decision regarding the award recipient will be based on the above criteria or comparable achievements and the strength of the supporting letters. The award will be presented at a reception on October 12, 2012 during the State Bar Annual Meeting in Monterey.
For more information and questions regarding the Loren Miller Award, please contact Sharon Ngim via email at: sharon.ngim@calbar.ca.gov
Past Loren Miller Legal Services Award Recipients
2011 Loren Miller Award recipient:
Sid Wolinsky |
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