State Bar visits, and honors, West Michigan during annual meeting

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legal news PHOTOS by CYNTHIA price

by Cynthia Price
Legal News

A highlight of the three-day State Bar of Michigan (SBM) Annual Meeting, which features speakers, section meetings, inauguration of officers, and more, is surely the awards banquet.

This year, the State Bar met in Grand Rapids — following the tradition of convening here every other year.

A number of well-deserved Grand Rapidians numbered among the winners of the prestigious awards.

SBM continued to follow the format of showing brief videos of acceptance speeches, necessitated by the sheer numbers of award winners.

Teresa Weatherall Neal, the Superintendent of Grand Rapids Public Schools, reprised the Liberty Bell award she received from the Grand Rapids Bar. Her eloquent and well-delivered acceptance speech focused on the 3Rs and Constitution Day programs she has spearheaded.

“We’ve changed lives, hundreds of lives, by giving these kids this opportunity. What seems like something so small, an hour a month, has made such a difference,” Neal said.

Leo Goddeyne is a Kalamazoo Miller Canfield whose more than 40 years of pro bono service merited the John W. Cummiskey Pro Bono Award.

That award comes with $3,000 to give to an organization of the recipient’s choosing; Goddeyne chose Legal Aid of Western Michigan. Director Juan Salazar accepted the check.

As noted in the Grand Rapids Legal News 8/17/16, Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth won a Frank J. Kelley Public Service Award. He said, “I’m truly honored, even though I wonder about the idea of getting an award for simply doing your job for 40 years.”

The Unsung Hero Award went to assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District Tessa K. Hessmiller for her work with the Kent County Children’s Assessment Center, as well as the Kent County Human Trafficking Task force.
H. Rhett Pinsky received a Champion of Justice Award for his work to gain equitable treatment for a variety of defendants, including African-American applicants to the fire department and the young women who sued the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

His speech referenced quotes from those who have considered lawyers  the safeguard of democracy and justice, from Shakespeare to author Bryan Stephenson, whose book Just Mercy, Pinsky said, shows the lawyer as hero. “If my peers think that I participate in that in any small measure, it’s a fitting capstone to my career,” he concluded.

Though he was not called to the stage, also due to time constraints, retired Miller Johnson attorney Jon Muth was honored by the Michigan State Bar Foundation with its Founders Award.  The program noted his years of service to the State Bar Foundation, and said, “His creative ideas are still being implemented.”

Linda K. Rexer, the soon-to-retire Executive Director of that foundation, won SBM’s top honor, the Roberts P. Hutson Award, and many others around the state were also honored.  For more information, visit www.michbar.org/
programs/eventsawards

At a luncheon the following day, Lawrence P. Nolan was sworn in as the 82nd SBM President. Nolan is the founder and president of Nolan, Thomsen and Villas in Eaton Rapids, and has served the State Bar in many other ways over the years. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young also swore in Grand Rapids’ own Robert J. Buchanan as Treasurer.

Then, on Friday, Nolan personally gave out 50-year awards to long-term lawyers at a luncheon, including several Grand Rapids attorneys present.

 

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