15 Awards Presented at LSBA Annual Meeting LSBA members, a local Bar Association and a Baton Rouge chief executive officer received awards for various services to the Bar and the legal profession.• President’s Awards Seven individuals and a local Bar Association received 2016 President’s Awards. Recipients were chosen by 2015-16 LSBA President Mark A. Cunningham and were recognized for services to the Association. Recognized were the New Orleans Bar Association; John J. Finan, Jr., Baton Rouge; Kendall P. Green, New Orleans; Abid Hussain, New Orleans; Judge (Ret.) Calvin Johnson, New Orleans; Hillar C. Moore III, Baton Rouge; Christopher K. Ralston, New Orleans; and Mark C. Surprenant, New Orleans. The New Orleans Bar Association (NOBA) was recognized for its years of collaboration with the LSBA and its initiatives to promote diversity, indigent defense and construction of an Orleans Parish Courthouse. A community of 3,000 lawyers and judges, NOBA is led by a 22-member board of directors and longtime Executive Director Helena Henderson. NOBA has an enduring commitment to diversity and inclusion and its partnership with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services supports the first-of-its-kind, bar-sponsored Public Interest Law Fellowship. NOBA has served the cause of justice by speaking for indigent defense, promoting pro bono civil representation, encouraging adequate funding for the justice system and the building of a new courthouse for Orleans Parish Civil District Court. John J. Finan, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Inc. in Baton Rouge, was recognized for helping attorneys and their families through his support of the SOLACE (Support of Lawyers-Legal Personnel — All Concern Encouraged) Program. With more than 40 years of experience in healthcare leadership and operations, Finan currently serves as board vice chair of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, is board chair for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and board chair of Loyola University New Orleans. He is a member of the boards of the Public Affairs Research Council and Blueprint Louisiana. He received his bachelor of science degree from Louisiana State University at New Orleans and his master of business administration degree from Loyola University of the South. Kendall P. Green of New Orleans was recognized for his heroic and selfless efforts during his career with the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD). For the past 32 years, he served as a public defender, first with the Orleans Indigent Defender Program, then its successor organization, Orleans Public Defenders. In the years following Hurricane Katrina, and the deep inequities the disaster exposed in the Orleans Parish criminal justice system, Green was instrumental in transforming OPD from its traditional court-centered orientation to its current client-centered model. As the longtime chief of trials at OPD, he oversaw the entire Trial Division and helped to develop the Investigative Division and the Client Services Division. In 2009, he was recognized by the Louisiana Public Defenders Association with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Abid Hussain, a solo law practitioner in New Orleans, was recognized for his efforts in launching the online LSBA Tech Center and as chair of the LSBA Solo and Small Firms Section. With entrepreneur clients in Dallas, Texas, Hussain has practiced corporate law for 10 years in Texas and Louisiana. He provides legal and corporate counsel, including intellectual property and asset protection, to entrepreneurs, business owners, investors and musicians. He has provided law technology and practice management CLEs for the LSBA, the New Orleans Bar Association and the Jefferson Bar Association. For eight years after receiving his law degree from the University of Oregon, he held marketing and web development positions at technology and software companies. Hon. Calvin Johnson, retired chief judge of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, was recognized for his countless accomplishments as a leader in the administration of criminal justice. He established the first Mental Health Treatment Court in Louisiana in 2002 and was Drug Court judge from 1994-2002. Following his retirement from the bench in 2008, he served as executive director of the Metropolitan Human Service District (MHSD), an agency overseeing the delivery of publicly funded, community-based behavioral health services. Since his retirement from MHSD in 2014, he has handled consulting work for Magellan Health Louisiana, Futures Education and the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. He works with the federal monitors in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, for the care of defendants with mental health issues in parish prison. He is on the faculty of Loyola University College of Law. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1978 from Loyola University College of Law. Hillar C. Moore III, district attorney for the 19th Judicial District in East Baton Rouge Parish, was recognized for his efforts in advancing the relationship between the LSBA and the Louisiana District Attorneys Association (LDAA). Currently serving as LDAA president, Moore has been in the criminal justice field for more than 40 years. He formed BRAVE, the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination program, a group violence reduction strategy; a Crime Strategies Unit modeled after the Manhattan DA’s office; and a hospital intervention program to prevent future violence to victims. He received his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University, majoring in criminal justice. He completed course work for a master’s degree in criminal justice and later graduated from Southern University Law Center. Christopher K. Ralston, a commercial litigation partner in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., was recognized for his efforts in the areas of access to justice and diversity in the legal profession. In his firm, he serves on the ethics, pro bono, recruiting and diversity committees and as co-leader of the Small & Emerging Business Team. He is a member of the Louisiana Access to Justice Commission, the LSBA’s House of Delegates and the LSBA’s Client Assistance Fund Committee. He is president-elect of the New Orleans Bar Association and vice president and a board member of the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. He is a Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and serves on its board of directors. Mark C. Surprenant, a partner in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Adams and Reese, L.L.P., was recognized for his efforts in the implementation of the Access to Justice Intern Program and the Reentry Program and as chair of the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, Inc. (JLAP). Currently the chair of JLAP, Surprenant also is a member of the Louisiana Access to Justice Commission. Since the beginning of his legal career, he has been dedicated to community service. In 1988, he created HUGS, his law firm’s corporate philanthropy program. In 2000, he established CA&RE, his firm’s official pro bono program. He also is the co-founder of SOLACE, Inc. (Support of Lawyers-Legal Personnel — All Concern Encouraged). He served as the 2013-14 president of the New Orleans Bar Association and as chair of the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans in 2008. • Catherine D. Kimball Award for Advancement of the Administration of Justice Four LSBA members received 2016 Catherine D. Kimball Awards for Advancement of the Administration of Justice. Recipients were Justice (Ret.) Harry T. Lemmon, New Orleans; Judge (Ret.) Ronald J. Sholes, New Orleans; Jeffrey E. Richardson, New Orleans; and Martin A. Stern, New Orleans. Justice (Ret.) Harry T. Lemmon of New Orleans served as an associate justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1980-2001. Prior to his election to the Supreme Court, he served on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal for 10 years. He received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Loyola University Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Loyola and is an honorary member of the Order of the Coif and the Hall of Fame of Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He served on the adjunct faculty of Loyola Law School and taught courses at LSU Law Center and Tulane University Law School. He chaired the Louisiana Judicial College for 25 years and chaired the Education Committee of the Appellate Judges Education Institute and the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judge Seminar Series. Hon. Ronald J. Sholes, a former Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge, is a partner and the arbitration and alternative dispute resolution team leader in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Adams and Reese, L.L.P. He also served as a New Orleans Traffic Court judge. He earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1984 from Loyola University College of Law and his master of public health degree in 1980 from Tulane University School of Public Health. He is a former president of the Louisiana District Judges Association and the Louisiana 4th and 5th Circuit Judges Associations. He served as president of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and the St. Thomas More Inn of Court. He was an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and taught trial advocacy at Emory University, Loyola University and Louisiana State University. Jeffrey E. Richardson is a partner in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Adams and Reese, L.L.P., where his practice focuses on class action and complex litigation, products liability litigation and appellate litigation. He graduated with highest honors from Emory University and with high honors from Georgetown University Law Center. He has been a volunteer with Louisiana Appleseed for many years. He also publishes iPhone J.D. (iPhoneJD.com), the oldest and largest website for attorneys who use iPhones and iPads. The website has frequently been named the best legal technology website, and the ABA Journal recently named iPhone J.D. to its Blawg Hall of Fame. Martin A. Stern is the appellate team leader and claims counsel in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Adams and Reese, L.L.P. He has substantial experience in legal ethics, representing judges before the Louisiana Judiciary Commission and lawyers before the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. His appellate practice included representing a defendant sentenced to death, which resulted in a grant of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court. Kennedy v. Louisiana announced the landmark holding that the death penalty is unconstitutional for most non-homicide crimes. Stern is a former director of both the national and Louisiana Appleseed and spearheaded the reestablishment of Louisiana Appleseed after Hurricane Katrina. Another Appleseed project culminated in the Louisiana Supreme Court’s adoption of a rule allowing lawyers to earn CLE credit for pro bono representation of indigent clients. He also proposed a project accepted by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to provide pro bono representation to indigent appellants in selected federal immigration appeals. • Stephen T. Victory Memorial Award Michael S. Finkelstein, an associate attorney with the New Orleans law firm of Didriksen, Saucier, Woods & Pichon, P.L.C., received the 2016 Stephen T. Victory Memorial Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to the Louisiana Bar Journal. His article, “Overview of Data Breach Litigation in Louisiana: A Look Into Its Uncertain Future,” was published in the August-September 2015 issue. An alumnus of Louisiana State University and the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, he is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and Texas. He focuses his practice on commercial litigation, toxic torts, product liability, insurance defense, subrogation, and data and cybersecurity law. He is developing his firm’s data breach litigation practice, among the first of its kind in Louisiana. • John Ashby Hernandez III Memorial Award for Francophone Leadership Warren A. Perrin, chair of the LSBA’s Francophone Section, received the 2016 John Ashby Hernandez III Memorial Award for Francophone Leadership. Perrin is an attorney with the Lafayette law firm of Perrin, Landry & deLaunay and a skills professor at Loyola University College of Law. He served as president of CODOFIL and as a member of the board of directors of the Congrès Mondial Acadien – Louisiane 1999. He also served as president of the Lt. Governor’s Task Force of FrancoFête ’99 and founded the Acadian Museum of Erath, La. In 1999, he was awarded the French National Order of Merit Award. He is the author of seven books: Acadian Redemption, Une Saga Acadienne, Vermilion Parish, Iberia Parish, St. Landry Parish, Acadie Then and Now: A People’s History and L’Acadie hier et aujourd’hui – L’histoire dunpeuple. In 2015, he received the Daughters of the American Revolution Americanism National Medal of Honor. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. • Curtis R. Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award Christine Lipsey, a member in the Baton Rouge office of the law firm of McGlinchey Stafford, P.L.L.C., received the 2016 Curtis R. Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award, presented by the Louisiana Bar Foundation. She has more than 30 years of experience in litigation representing small and large businesses, insurance companies, state agencies, lenders, and corporate and limited liability company constituents. She serves on the LSBA’s Rules of Professional Conduct Committee and completed a second term on the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Committee. She serves on the Commercial and Business Litigation Committee, the Business Torts Committee, and the Professional Liability Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association. A member of the Bar Association of the 5th Federal Circuit and the Wex S. Malone American Inn of Court, she also is Louisiana Bar Foundation Fellow. A 1982 graduate of Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, she currently teaches “The Legal Profession” as an adjunct faculty member and serves on the Alumni Board of Trustees.