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September 30, 2024 2025 MIDYEAR

2025 Father Drinan Award

Honoring longtime CRSJ leader Richard Soden, posthumously

This year, the American Bar Association Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice will posthumously honor beloved Section legend, Richard A. Soden, and celebrate his impactful life and legacy. For many years, Richard served as the Budget Officer and a member of the Section’s governing Council.  He was deeply committed to the Section’s mission and its growing need for a sustained source of funding. As a Section leader, Richard was indefatigable in his fundraising efforts and inspirational in the service and guidance he so thoughtfully provided to the Section often referred to as “the conscience of the ABA.”  

The Section will honor longtime Section leader Richard A. Soden with its Father Robert F. Drinan Award for Distinguished Service on Thursday, January 23, 2025, from 5:30 - 7pm ET. The award will be presented at a virtual reception during the Section's Midyear Council Meeting. We invite friends and colleagues to join us as we honor his legacy with the Section - register for the reception today! Please contact Section Director Paula Shapiro or Award Chair Myles Lynk with questions on how to participate.

Richard A. Soden, 2025 Father Robert F. Drinan Award Recipient

Richard A. Soden, 2025 Father Robert F. Drinan Award Recipient

Sponsorship Opportunities

There is no charge to attend this program. Please consider making a gift in honor of Richard’s exemplary level of dedication that will advance the goals of the Section and the qualities that Richard exhibited on a daily basis. Donations made prior to the Drinan Award event on January 23 will be recognized in all program materials. See the sponsorship prospectus for additional details.

Founder | $10,000 - $25,000

Champion | $5,000 - $9,999

Advocate | $2,500 - $4,999

Supporter | $1,000 - $2,499

Friend |  Donations up to $999

Contributions may be made online here (ambar.org/donatecrsj) or by check made payable (inc. Father Drinan in memo) and sent to: The ABA Fund for Justice and Education /321 N. Clark Street, 20th Floor / Chicago, IL  60654

The Father Robert F. Drinan Award for Distinguished Service, first accepted by Father Drinan himself, honors those who have strengthened the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice’s mission to provide leadership to the legal profession. Richard, like Father Drinan, dedicated his life to professional excellence, integrity, and public service. 

About the Recipient

A trailblazer and a leader through and through, Richard was a true Goodwin original, and one of the longest-tenured members of their firm. He started as a summer associate in 1969 and then joined as an associate in 1971 after graduating from the Boston University School of Law. Richard became a partner in 1979 – making him one of the first African Americans elected to partnership at a large Boston law firm. In 2006, he transitioned to an of counsel role.

A member of the Business Law Department, Richard specialized in corporate and securities law, with a thriving practice that included all aspects of corporate finance, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance.

His impact and his legacy stretched far beyond his practice. Richard had been active in the non-profit and charitable community for many decades, serving as a lawyer, a leader, and as a member of the governing boards, and an officer of numerous charitable and civic organizations. His commitment to the legal profession was purposeful, far-reaching, and thoroughly selfless.

A member of the American Bar Association since 1971, Richard was active with the  Civil Rights and Social Justice Section throughout his legal career. Most recently, he volunteered his time as the Section’s Budget Officer and Chair of its Fundraising and Development Council Committee. His leadership in these roles and many others he held were critical to the continued success of the Civil Rights and Social Justice Section, including spearheading our Giving Day campaigns for the last two years and his role as a member of the Fundraising Committee for our annual Thurgood Marshall Award dinner. In 2009, Richard received the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award, given in recognition of his three decades of work promoting diversity in the legal profession.

Richard served as Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Oversight Committee. He was a trustee of the Social Law Library and a member of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee and the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates and Board of Governors.

Richard also served as the President of the Boston Bar Association, Boston Bar Foundation and the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, and chairman of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Bar Services and Activities and its Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs. In addition, he served as chairman of the Steering Committee of the Boston Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In recognition of his election as the President of the Boston Bar Association in 1995, Goodwin established the Richard Soden Law and Justice Scholarship for Boston public school students interested in a legal career. For many years, the Soden Scholarships have helped Boston-area students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college, to achieve their goals of higher education.

In 2018, the Boston Bar Association honored Richard with its Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed for his career-spanning, consistent and demonstrated commitment to bettering the legal profession in the areas of public service and diversity and inclusion.

“We don’t do what we do to get awards, we do what we do because it makes us feel good to help other people,” said Richard at the time. “It feeds our souls and gives us a reason for living by putting the tools we use to do business to work toward the betterment of society.”

Beyond his immeasurable impact on the legal profession, Richard was dedicated to giving back to the broader community. He was a member of the Executive Board of the Northeast Region of the Boy Scouts of America and the High Adventure Sea Base Advisory Board, a member of the Overseers Advisory Board of WGBH, and an overseer of the New England Aquarium. He served as chairman of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and the Board of Trustees of the Judge Baker Children’s Center, president of United South End Settlements and the Boston Minuteman Council of the BSA, and a former trustee of Boston University.

In his signature lively and witty style, Richard shared his experience and wisdom as a mentor to generations of lawyers and GO! Team members, including serving as the partner mentor for our Chair Emeritus Regina Pisa when she was a first-year associate at the firm.

In 2017, the firm honored Richard’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by expanding our Diversity Fellowship program, establishing additional scholarships for first-year law students, as well as, for the first time, fellowship opportunities for second-years. Named in honor of Richard and fellow Goodwin diversity trailblazers Wayne Budd, Marian Tse, and Paul Lee, these scholarships were designed to offer meaningful opportunities to talented law students underrepresented in the legal profession.

In addition to his work championing inclusion within the legal profession, Richard was also an active mentor and an advisor to the leaders of our Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD), a GO! Team affinity group dedicated to supporting, connecting, and empowering Black professional staff firmwide.

Through his service-filled career, Richard lived our Core Principles and exemplified the very best, and he left us with a more resilient and more inclusive profession.

CREDIT: Excerpts of Richard's prestigious biography are taken from the memorial tribute posted by his firm, Goodwin Procter LLP. 

Recent Recipients