Harry B. Sondheim Professional Responsibility Award Application

Thank you for taking time to make a nomination for the distinguished Harry B. Sondheim Professional Responsibility Award which is awarded every 3 years.  This award recognizes a member’s outstanding long‐term contribution to the advancement of attorney professional responsibility standards in California.

We encourage you to concisely share relevant details about your nominee. Based on the criteria below, please tell us why you feel they are special and would be an outstanding recipient of the Harry B. Sondheim Professional Responsibility Award. While you are invited to attach relevant documents, the awards committee will base its decision primarily on the information provided on this nomination form.

Award Criteria

The profile of a typical recipient would include a combination of some, but not necessarily all, of the following career achievements:

• At least 15 years in the practice of law in California;
• 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;
• Service as a member of the Board of Governors;
• 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);
• Experience teaching professional responsibility to law students, including as an adjunct;
• Extensive writing and continuing education (MCLE) presentations on professional responsibility;
• 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;
• Service as a fee arbitrator;
• Service as an expert witness on matters of professional responsibility;
• Litigation experience in attorney professional liability or related subjects;
• Experience giving risk management advice to lawyers, including activity as a member of law firm management or on behalf of legal malpractice insurance carriers;
• 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);
• 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
• 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. A nominee for the award may be living or deceased.  In addition, achievement of all 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. Local and specialty bar association ethics committees are encouraged to submit nominations.

Nomination Questions

1. Why do you believe this person should be considered for this Award and what makes them special? (response in 500 words or less).
2. The California Lawyers Association is committed to reflecting diversity, broadly defined, in all its activities. Please briefly (250 words or less) describe any characteristics, experiences or background, including traditional indicia of diversity, the nominee would represent.
3. One additional reference