WASHINGTON, July 29, 2019 — The American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence has chosen two recipients, Judge James Riehl of Kitsap County, Wash. and attorney Jessica Mindlin of Portland, Ore., to receive its 2019 Judith S. Kaye and Sharon L. Corbitt awards. These annual awards, to be presented during next month’s ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco are for outstanding work on behalf of victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault.
The awards will be presented during a breakfast on Friday, Aug. 9, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the San Francisco offices of Duane Morris LLP, 30 Spear Street, Floor 22.
The Judith S. Kaye Award for Judicial Excellence honors an individual judicial officer who has demonstrated exemplary leadership in the development of appropriate courtroom responses to the issues of domestic and sexual violence. The Sharon L. Corbitt Award recognizes a lawyer who has demonstrated exemplary service to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.
The 2019 Judith S. Kaye Award for Judicial Excellence recipient:
Judge Riehl served as a Kitsap County District Judge for 32 years from 1982-2014. He served as the president of the Washington State District and Municipal Court Judges Association from 1995-96. He is a past member and past co-chair of the Board for Judicial Administration, which is responsible for setting policy for the judiciary of the State of Washington and is a past member of the Washington State Gender and Justice Commission, as well as the Washington State Interpreter Commission. In 1996, the Washington State Misdemeanant Corrections Association named Riehl “Judge of the Year.” In 1997, he organized the first ever Kitsap County Domestic Violence Summit. In 2003, he was instrumental in obtaining a federal grant for Kitsap District Court to resolve inconsistent provisions of multiple domestic violence protection orders and sat as the judge hearing those cases. The Washington State Bar Association presented him with the “Outstanding Judge Award” in September 2014.
Riehl also has been active on the national level and is currently the District 9 representative for the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Specialized Court Judges of the American Bar Association. He previously served as the Judicial Division liaison to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence. Riehl also served as the ABA’s advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws that drafted a model law for purposes of enforcing domestic violence protection orders nationwide. He continues to serve as faculty in the training of judges and attorneys in the areas of domestic and sexual violence.
The 2019 Sharon L. Corbitt Award recipient:
Mindlin, oversees the Victim Rights Law Center’s national consulting, mentoring, and support work to advance the legal rights of survivors of gender-based violence. She also serves as director of the VRLC Portland, Ore., office. Mindlin has been active in the movement to end gender-based violence since the 1970s. She has trained thousands of lawyers, advocates, forensic nurses, law enforcement officers, and other first responders across the U.S., and served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of State in South America and the Middle East.
Mindlin has served as a Statewide Support Unit attorney for Legal Aid Services of Oregon; coordinator for the Oregon Supreme Court-Oregon State Bar Task Force on Gender Fairness; senior staff attorney for Lewis and Clark Law School’s National Crime Victim’s Law Institute; and Legal Access project director for the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, and as an adjunct professor at both Lewis and Clark College and Louisiana State University Schools of Law.
She has been recognized nationally and across Oregon for her work, with honors that include the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Visionary Voice Award, the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce Leadership in Law, Transition Project Inc.’s Women’s Advocacy Award, and the Midori Hamilton Leadership Award.
This event is free and open to members of the press. For media credentialing, please contact Betsy Adeboyejo at 202-662-1039 or Betsy.Adeboyejo@americanbar.org.
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