Bar Association Gives Top Ethics, Professionalism Award

Bar Association Gives Top Ethics, Professionalism Award

Civil rights lawyer and CNN legal analyst Avery Friedman will receive the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s 2017 William K. Thomas Award at its annual meeting June 2 at Public Auditorium in Cleveland.

Friedman was unanimously selected by CMBA’s ethics and professionalism committee. CMBA president Richard D. Manaloff will make the presentation.

The honor is bestowed on “a lawyer or judge who has significantly contributed to the enhancement of professionalism in the Greater Cleveland legal community by exemplifying the goals of the Ohio Supreme Court’s ‘A Lawyer’s Creed’ and by furthering the ideals (of) the mission of the CMBA.”

Michael J. Borden, associate dean of Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, nominated Friedman and U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster seconded the nomination.

“Litigation is a full-contact sport, and too many lawyers leave a lot of casualties on the field,” Polster wrote about the nomination. “That is not the case with Avery. He knows how to disagree agreeably. He will exhaust every possibility to achieve a fair resolution and if that is not possible, he will try the case in a dignified and professional manner.”

Another second came from E. Theophilis Caviness, president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who wrote, “Dr. (Martin Luther) King told us that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Without a volunteer fighting force . . . standing forcefully against iron-fisted racial violence, justice can be elusive. Avery has been our fighting force of one.”

In addition to his civil rights practice, Friedman serves as Distinguished Visiting Adjunct Professor in Constitutional Law at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike.

Source: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com