The ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism is accepting nominations for its annual E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards.
The awards are given to “exemplary, innovative, and on-going professionalism programs established by law schools, bar associations, courts and other not-for-profit legal organizations that help ensure the maintenance of the highest principles of integrity and dedication to the legal profession and the public.”
Eligible programs include those that enhance civility, access to justice, well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Standing Committee will award $3,500 to each winner.
“The ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism is pleased to recognize programs that are helping to foster the highest principles of professionalism in the legal community,” said Stephanie Villinski, Deputy Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism and Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism. “We hope that you will consider nominating a professionalism project or program that is working to promote the ideals of the legal profession in support of the delivery of justice.”
Nominations are open until March 31, 2023.
Past Gambrell Professionalism Award Winners
Named for E. Smythe Gambrell, President of the ABA and American Bar Foundation from 1955 to 1956 and founder of the Legal Aid Society in Atlanta, the Gambrell Professionalism Awards have honored recipients for more than 30 years.
In 2022, the Standing Committee granted the following awards:
- Texas A&M University School of Law’s Professional Identity Course, which “emphasizes core lawyering values, the self-directed development of interpersonal competencies critical to effective law practice, and the importance of well-being.”
- Baylor Law School’s multi-part Leadership Development Program, which emphasizes that lawyers have a “special obligation to their clients and society to act with honesty, integrity, and civility in all matters.”
- The University of Mississippi School of Law’s Student Wellness Program, which was built around research supporting recommendations from the ABA National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and the principles of the ABA Well-Being Campaign and Pledge. The program promotes healthy habits and lifestyles for students beginning as 1Ls and communicates the relationship between wellness and professionalism.
How to apply
To qualify, the program must be ongoing, easily replicated, and operational for at least one year prior to the submission deadline. Previous winners are ineligible.
Submitted nominations are maintained and will be considered for two years: the award year of submission and the following award year.
For more information and to submit an application, visit the ABA’s website.
Please contact Briana Morris at briana.morris@americanbar.org with any questions.
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