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October Quarterly Meeting and Luncheon Set for Oct. 18
Donna Brazile, a senior political strategist and manager of Al Gores 2000 presidential campaign, will address the Bar Associations Quarterly Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at noon at the Philadelphia Park Hyatt at the Bellevue. We are very excited to have such a dynamic speaker. Especially one who has been involved in some of the most important political campaigns of recent years, said Chancellor Andrew A. Chirls. Her insight into the process should prove fascinating to our members. Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Phyllis W. Beck will receive the Associations Sandra Day OConnor Award at the event. Brazile is a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNNs Inside Politics and American Morning. In addition, she is a columnist for Roll Call newspaper and a contributing writer for Ms. magazine. Before joining the Gore campaign, she was chief of staff and press secretary to U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia. Brazile has also served as a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and a fellow at Harvards Institute of Politics. A veteran of numerous national and statewide campaigns, Brazile has worked on several presidential campaigns including Carter-Mondale; Rev. Jesse Jacksons first historic bid for the presidency in 1984; Mondale-Ferraro; U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt; Dukakis-Bentsen; and both Clinton-Gore campaigns. Brazile is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Washingtonian magazines 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington, D.C. and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundations Award for Political Achievement. For Judge Beck, being named recipient of the OConnor Award is a high honor. I love the law and certainly enjoy the practice and teaching and being a judge. Its been an amazing career for me. Im very grateful to the lawyers whove accepted me. When I graduated in 1967, there were just a handful of women practicing in this area. It was a little tough at first, but Im grateful for the acceptance, she said recently. I think theres no higher honor than to be recognized by ones peers. Judge Beck was appointed to the Superior Court by Gov. Dick Thornburgh in 1981. She was elected state-wide to a 10-year term in November 1983 and retained in 1993. She is the first woman to serve on the Court. Judge Beck assumed the judgeship after serving as vice dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she also taught. Prior to that time she was a faculty member at Temple Law Center. Her route to the bench included a bachelors degree from Brown University and a law degree in 1967 from Temple Law School, night division, where she was first in her class. Judge Beck will retire from the bench at the end of the year and become CFO of the Independence Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support organizations that provide services to people who do not ordinarily have access to them. Also at the Luncheon, Hon. Edmund V. Ludwig, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, will receive the Bar Association's Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Distinguished Jurist Award. Tickets for the Luncheon are $50 for members and $55 for non-members. Register securely online with a credit card, or print out a registration form. For more information, please contact Stephanie Krzywanski at (215) 238-6360.