WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2020 — The American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section will honor Bernice B. Donald, circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, with its inaugural Lifetime Liberty Achievement Award. This award celebrates the lawyers and judges who have spent their career actively promoting diversity and inclusion within the legal profession.
The award, sponsored by Thomson Reuters, will be presented virtually via Zoom on Sept. 16 at 3 p.m. CT. You can click here to register for the program.
“Judge Donald was one of the first recipients of the Liberty Achievement Award and her continued dedication to diversity in the profession merits her recognition as the first Lifetime Liberty Achievement Award honoree,” said Sharon Sayles Belton, vice president of Government Partnerships & Alliances at Thomson Reuters.
Donald was nominated to the 6th Circuit bench by President Barack Obama in 2011. Prior to that, she served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee as an appointee of President Bill Clinton in 1995. Donald was the first African American woman to serve as a bankruptcy judge and the first African American woman to serve as a judge in the state of Tennessee.
She has been the recipient of more than 100 awards for professional, civic and community activities, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Memphis, the Martin Luther King Community Service Award and the Benjamin Hooks Award presented by the Memphis Bar Foundation. Donald also has been a dedicated American Bar Association and Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section member, serving as co-chair of the TIPS Diversity and Inclusion Committee and chair of the ABA Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession.
Click here of Judge Bernice B. Donald.
The ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section unites plaintiff, defense, insurance and corporate counsel to advance the civil justice system. TIPS is a national source of expertise in tort, trial and insurance practice and brings lawyers together to share information and speak out on issues of importance. The section has nearly 12,000 members and more than 30 general committees that focus on substantive and procedural matters in areas across the broad spectrum of civil law and practice.
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