Difference Maker Award winners named

Alphonse A. Gerhardstein will receive a 2017 Difference Makers Award at a luncheon during the GPSolo 2017 Solo & Small Firm Summit on Friday, Oct. 20, in St. Paul, Minn. The Making a Difference by Breaking Barriers award, presented by the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, recognizes an attorney, living or deceased, who broke barriers for gender, color, disabilities or sexual orientation.

Gerhardstein is a partner in the Cincinnati law firm of Gerhardstein & Branch Co., which focuses on civil rights cases including race, gender, sexual orientation and disability discrimination in housing and employment; prisoner rights; police misconduct; voting rights and reproductive health issues. Gerhardstein was lead counsel in Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court established marriage equality for same-sex couples in all 50 states.

He was lead counsel on a class action that reformed Ohio’s juvenile prisons and was lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit that resulted in Cincinnati’s Collaborative Agreement, which has been cited as a national model for police reform.
Gerhardstein is the founder of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center and a past board member of the Ohio Association for Justice. He is a frequent lecturer to professional and general audiences on civil rights topics, including appearances on CBS, NBC and NPR news programs.

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LaJune Lange will receive the 2017 Difference Makers through Service to the Profession Award at a luncheon during the GPSolo 2017 Solo & Small Firm Summit on Friday, Oct. 20, in St. Paul, Minn. The Making a Difference through Service to the Profession Award, presented by the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, goes to an attorney, living or deceased, who has made a significant contribution through service to the profession.

Lange is an internationally recognized expert in human rights and international development. After retiring as a Minnesota state trial court judge, she started the LaJune Thomas Lange International Leadership Institute, which develops legal, health and education programs while facilitating economic and intercultural exchange. She was a United Nations Development Program adviser during the Nigerian elections, provided intervention during the election crisis in Kenya and is the first American judge invited to participate in a judicial education program in Morocco. She serves on the board of regents of her alma mater, Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and as honorary consul for South Africa, representing South Africans in Minnesota, fostering partnerships and economic development.