Five trailblazers honored for their ‘spirit of excellence’

The American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession recognized five recipients of its 2025 Spirit of Excellence Award on Feb. 1 for their commitment to racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession. The awards luncheon was held during the ABA 2025 Midyear Meeting in Phoenix.

The honorees were lawyers Col. James M. Durant III, Kalpana Kotagal and Karol Corbin Walker; business executive Craig B. Glidden and Judge Diane J. Humetewa.

Among the association’s highest recognitions, the Spirit of Excellence Awards are presented to lawyers who excel in their professional settings; who personify excellence on the national, state or local level; and who have demonstrated a commitment to racial and ethnic diversity in law.

In opening remarks, ABA President Bill Bay said the motto of the awards, “To the Stars Through Difficulty,” is “particularly poignant and fitting given the climate of the nation. There is a reason why we call this the Spirit of Excellence and not the ‘Spirit of Diversity.’ It’s because we celebrate excellence. Excellence requires diversity, excellence thrives on diversity, and these are not mutually exclusive.”

Bay said the awardees are “people who do their best to make justice real in their communities.” He called them leaders, role models and examples of courage and excellence “that we need now more than ever before.” 

Col. James M. Durant III is chief counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science-Chicago, where he leads a legal staff across the United States that serves 11 of the 17 U.S. National Laboratories handling management and operation contracts, acquisitions and grants, patent applications and licensing actions totaling more than $8 billion annually. He is a principal legal adviser to the DOE Office of Science and its Combined Service Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and a career Senior Executive Service appointee who began with DOE in 2013 following a 26-year career with the U.S. Air Force where he retired as colonel.

In his acceptance speech, Durant quoted the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” He said his road speaks to adversity, challenges and achievements. He expressed gratitude for his family, friends, colleagues, nominators and ABA members and staff who have “been on this journey” with him. Durant paid homage to the love and closeness of his neighborhood community while growing up. “I don’t know where this road is going to take us next, but I do know that with your continued support family and friends — we’re all family — my journey will continue to be exciting, rewarding and exceptional.”

Craig B. Glidden is president and chief administrative officer of General Motors-subsidiary Cruise. At Cruise, Glidden has infused GM’s commitment to safety, transforming GM’s global legal operations to support the company’s vision of a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. Glidden also serves as the executive vice president and strategic adviser of GM. He joined GM in March 2015 as executive vice president and general counsel. In 2021, he was named executive vice president of global public policy and assumed the responsibilities of corporate secretary. He began leading cybersecurity and strategic technology initiatives in 2022. As of July 2024, Glidden transitioned out of his role as general counsel of GM and assumed the role of executive vice president and strategic adviser.

Glidden was described as someone who inspires others to achieve their dreams. In his acceptance speech, he said an “ecosystem of encouragement” is required for excellence and that his mother was his “encourager in chief.” He expressed gratitude for where he’d grown up on the west coast of Florida, which was “an incredibly inclusive place” where friends and neighbors encouraged him “to pursue opportunities that I didn’t know existed.” He said, “When I started my career, I brought with me a lot of the lessons learned from that small town.”

Judge Diane J. Humetewa has served as a U.S. district judge for the District of Arizona since 2014. Prior to her confirmation, she was special counsel to the president of Arizona State University, taught at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and practiced federal Indian law. She was a litigator in the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1996-2009, and in 2007, was confirmed as the U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. Humetewa currently serves on the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction and chairs the 9th Circuit Court Committee on Tribal-Native Relations. She is a graduate of the ASU College of Law, a member of the Hopi Tribe and a former appellate judge on the Hopi Appellate Court.

Humetewa acknowledged that she received the Spirit of Excellence Award because she has tried to promote a more ethnically diverse legal profession, but “to be clear, I would not be here, if it were not for those who opened the doors to me for this path.” She thanked people who helped her along the way, from mentors to supervisors whom she observed who influenced her career. She thanked everyone in the room for what they have done to “advance those who have few opportunities because of circumstances out of their control. I’m a product of that and I congratulate each and every one of you for continuing this work despite what may come next.”

Kalpana Kotagal joined the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August 2023. The first female commissioner of Indian descent, Kotagal is committed to ensuring the EEOC is accessible to underserved communities, including low-wage workers, people of color, immigrant and migrant communities and people in remote or rural areas. Before joining the EEOC, Kotagal was a partner at Cohen Milstein, where she specialized in civil rights and employment law and chaired the firm’s Hiring and Diversity Committee. She also represented women and other marginalized people in employment and civil rights class actions, often involving cutting-edge issues related to Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as wage and hour issues and the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act.

In her acceptance speech, Kotagal said there has been disinformation and confusion about promoting diversity in the workplace. “Put simply, as I believe everyone in this room knows, encouraging diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging means proactively identifying and removing barriers to opportunity so that everyone can realize their full potential regardless of whether they have social connections or capital. This is the work of making sure that qualified people can access opportunity. This is the work that brings us closer to a true meritocracy.”

Karol Corbin Walker is a partner with Kaufman Dolowich LLP and focuses her practice on business, commercial and employment litigation matters. Her clients have included Fortune 500 corporations and other publicly and privately held corporations, financial institutions, entertainers and insurance companies. A trailblazer in the legal profession, Walker became the second African American chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession in 2023 and was the first person of color and first woman to serve as the state delegate to represent New Jersey on the Nominating Committee in the House of Delegates (2020). She is also the first African American president of the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey (2015); first New Jersey attorney appointed as chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary (2015); first African American female president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents (2012); first African American and youngest female president in the then 105-year history of the New Jersey State Bar Association (2003-2004); and first African American appointed as chair of the NJSBA’s Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee (1998).

In her acceptance speech, Walker said she has many mentees and believes, “it’s important for us to give back because somebody gave to us.” She said she was reared to help others. “I don’t relish the fact that I was the first in certain things. I look at it as a way of opening doors. If I see something that hasn’t been addressed, I open doors for other people to follow. I don’t pull up the chain or the ladder, I keep pushing it down further and further.” She said her career has been about serving others. “We cannot live in fear. We have to be steadfast, strong, resilient and do what we need to do as the ABA to stand up for the rule of law against one and all.” She added, “Continue to do what you do with respect to encouraging your fellow lawyers and friends and family to ensure we have a racially diverse legal profession because it benefits everyone.”