DETROIT –
On April 12 Lorraine H. Weber will receive the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan's prestigious Jean King award during WLAM's ninety-fifth annual conference at the historic Book Cadillac.
The award is the latest in a long series of recognitions for Weber, who has served as the executive director of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation since 2003 and as co-founder and executive director of For The Seventh Generation http://www.fortheseventhgeneration.org the DMBA's program for foster children, since 2005.
"It would be a huge understatement to say that I'm thrilled to receive this award," said Weber. "Every legal professional in our state is deeply aware of the many contributions Jean King has made in politics, social policy, and education to advance the cause of women's equality. She is a role model and an inspiration, and I'm deeply honored to be recognized in her name."
In 2003, Weber received the Community Service Pride Award from the Triangle Foundation, and in 2008 she was the recipient of the prestigious State Bar of Michigan Champion of Justice Award for her lifetime career of service to the causes of equal and open justice.
This year's WLAM conference is entitled "Furthering Herstory Together." In addition to the King award, the event will feature a keynote address by Judith Lichtman of the National Partnership for Women & Families, panelists including State Senators Gretchen Whitmer and Rebekah Warren and judges including WLAM past-President Marianne Battani, and the awarding of the Mary S. Coleman Award to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly. For more information or to register visit: http://womenlawyers.org/ or call the association at 517-372-3320.
The daughter and granddaughter of attorneys and an honors graduate of the University of Michigan and Boston College of Law, Weber first joined the Wayne County Probate Court in 1979 and went on to serve the Probate and Juvenile Courts in several capacities, including as a Referee of the Juvenile Division, for most of the next eighteen years.
Weber left the bench in July of 1997 to serve as special advisor to the State Bar of Michigan Task Force on Racial/Ethnic and Gender Issues in the Courts and the Legal Profession and director of the State Bar of Michigan Open Justice Commission. Under the leadership of Justice Marilyn Kelly and Judge Harold Hood, Weber worked with the commission to develop and administer numerous programs and initiatives specifically aimed at eliminating all forms of bias within the legal profession and promoting fairness in the courts. In August 2009, she was appointed the first Michigan Supreme Court Director of Access and Fairness by then Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly.
In 2010 Weber was appointed by Chief Justice Kelly as co-chair of the Michigan Solutions on Self Help Task Force along with Linda Rexer of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. Together they led a statewide collaboration of judges, courts, lawyers, bar associations, funders, nonprofit legal aid agencies, legal self-help centers and others to develop a statewide system for providing comprehensive services to the public and courts for self-represented litigants, including the creation of the Michigan Legal Help website. She currently contributes to the ongoing development of this initiative in partnership with the Michigan State Bar Foundation.
Weber is former chair of the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly and past President of the Women Lawyers Association, Wayne Region. She is a founding member and former Board member of the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness Issues in the Courts and received the Consortium's Founders Award in 1999.
The Women Lawyers Association of Michigan http://womenlawyers.org/ was founded in 1919 to secure the rights of women in society and advance the interests of women serving in the legal profession. WLAM created the King award in 2005; prior to Weber, recipients have included Judge Melinda Morris and attorneys Jennifer Salvatore and Kathleen L. Bogas.
The Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation (DMBA) supports a diverse mix of programming and advocacy including the Detroit Legal Services Clinic, which provides free legal assistance to people in need, the Cooley Pro-Bono Mentorship Program, and For The Seventh Generation http://www.fortheseventhgeneration.org, which matches donations of services and goods to needy foster children in the metro Detroit area. For The Seventh Generation will hold its annual fundraising gala, In Seventh Heaven, at the Roostertail on Saturday, June 1.
For more information about the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and its Foundation visit: http://www.detroitlawyer.org or call (313) 961-6120, ext. 206. For more information about For The Seventh Generation and the upcoming In Seventh Heaven fundraising gala (including sponsorship opportunities) visit: http://www.fortheseventhgeneration.org or call (313) 961-6120, ext. 206.
