Awards

Award Criteria To a member of the legal community who has helped shape the legal landscape through an extraordinary body of work. Nomination Questions Why do you believe this person should be considered for this Award and what makes them special? (response in 500 words or less). 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… Read more

Award Criteria Criteria to be used in the selection of the award recipient include one or more of the following: Demonstrated dedication to improving access to our judicial system for low and moderate income Californians; Demonstrated commitment to increasing the involvement of volunteer attorneys in the representation of the indigent; Successful establishment of a model system for providing assistance to self-represented litigants; Successful establishment of a model cooperative effort with local legal services programs or bar associations designed to improve… Read more

This year the Environmental Law Section is launching our new Trailblazer Award to recognize environmental leaders whose innovative and creative legal work has improved the lives of Californians and the California environment. Read more

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s Real Estate Educational Services Task Force Team led a 45 state agency task force in conjunction with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) to uncover fraud by mortgage loan originators. Read more

Erwin Chemerinsky became the 13th Dean of Berkeley Law on July 1, 2017, when he joined the faculty as the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law. Prior to assuming this position, from 2008-2017, he was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.  Before that, he was the Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University from 2004-2008,… Read more

The California Lawyers Association (CLA) is proud to announce the names of the lawyers, judges, and legal organizations who will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the legal profession in California. Read more

The New Lawyers Section (“NLS”) of the California Lawyers Association (“CLA”) is pleased to award the 2022 Jack Berman Award of Achievement to Deeva Shah. The New Lawyers Section annually confers the Jack Berman Award of Achievement to recognize a new or young lawyer within their first eight years of practice. The award recognizes distinguished service to the public, the judiciary or the legal profession. This year’s pool of nominees were extremely competitive, and NLS thanks and recognizes everyone who… Read more

Daniel M. Kolkey has served as an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, and as Counsel to the Governor of California. Read more

The 2022 Family Law Awards form can be found here. Read more

Mr. Fisher, UCLA B.A.,J.D., U.Penn. Law School R.H.Smith Fellow, served on the multinational negotiation teams and as counsel in the German and Austrian Holocaust settlements, as well as court-appointed class counsel on the Swiss Banks Holocaust cases. Mr. Fisher is a signatory to the resulting treaties with Germany and Austria. He serves as counsel on behalf of Chinese, Korean and other Asian victims of the sexual slavery and slave labor systems of wartime Japan, and has served as court-appointed receiver in major securities fraud cases. He works on Kurdish issues in Turkey and elsewhere. Read more