American Bar Association Diversity Commission Names 2010 Spirit of Excellence Awardees including Francisco Angones

Five leaders from a wide spectrum of societal leadership, but with a shared commitment to advancing a diverse legal profession, have been selected to receive the 2010 Spirit of Excellence Award, announced Fred Alvarez, chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession.

“Each of these recipients has demonstrated courage and creativity in seeking ways to advance the cause of a legal profession that welcomes participation and leadership from all races, cultures and ethnicity, and that represents the immense pool of talent that our diverse society represents,” said Alvarez.   The awards will be presented Feb. 6 during the ABA’s 2010 Midyear Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

“It is hugely important that each person in this country believes that the legal profession and the justice system operate with respect and understanding for all, and that youngsters contemplating the future understand that the law is a career option open to them.  The Spirit of Excellence Awards celebrate the achievements of diverse lawyers who lead by example and who demonstrate that brilliance and leadership benefit us all,” Alvarez said.

Recipients are:

• Francisco Angones, founding partner in the Miami law firm of Angones, McClure & Garcia, who was born in Havana in 1950 and was sent to the U.S. by his parents in 1961. He was the first Cuban-born president of The Florida Bar, and has worked actively with such wide‑ranging groups as the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Facts About Cuban Exiles and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of South Florida.
• Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson, one of the first African-American women to attend the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, the first woman elected to the Civil District Court of New Orleans and a community organizer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during the 1960s.  As managing attorney of the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation, she represented the rights of children, the poor, the elderly and the disenfranchised in federal and state courts.  She later became deputy city attorney for New Orleans and chair of the New Orleans Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
• Raymond L. Ocampo Jr., president and chief executive officer of Samurai Surfer LLC, a private consulting and investment company who, during his tenure as vice-president, general counsel and secretary of Oracle Corporation, implemented a policy requiring law firms retained by Oracle to designate a woman or minority lawyer to manage the corporation’s legal work. He co-founded the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California.
• Louis Stokes of Cleveland, who represented the Eleventh Congressional District of Ohio for 15 consecutive terms and was the first African-American elected to Congress from the state.  He is now senior counsel of the law firm of Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP, with offices in both Cleveland and the District of Columbia.  Prior to holding office, as a practicing lawyer in Cleveland, Stokes participated in three cases heard by the Supreme Court of the United States, including Terry v. Ohio, a landmark ruling upholding police powers to stop an individual on the sidewalk and frisk them, based on a reasonable suspicion the person committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.
• Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel of Microsoft, whose personal leadership in diversity efforts has ranged from the company’s Department of Legal and Corporate Affairs, to bar organizations, educational institutions and community groups.  Under Smith’s leadership Microsoft has instituted diversity “pay for performance” incentives and penalties both in-house at Microsoft and in dealings with outside law firms; supported scholarship programs; and created networking and mentoring opportunities among minority law students and lawyers, Microsoft lawyers and lawyers from other corporations and law firms.

The Spirit of Excellence Awards were launched in 1996 to celebrate the efforts and accomplishments of lawyers who work to promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession. 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 the legal profession.

The ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession is a catalyst to change the legal profession to reflect the society it serves.  It helps racially and ethnically diverse lawyers advance their careers and standing in the profession.  Its leadership, programs and information help the profession understand and eliminate racism, bigotry and discrimination.  The commission works to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession, and thus enrich it.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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