U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro, of the Eastern Dist. of Pa., to receive distinguished jurist award by PBA

A senior judge working out of the federal courthouse in Philadelphia will be

among two legal professionals recognized during an upcoming meeting of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro, who sits in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, will be presented with the Justice William J. Brennan Distinguished Jurist Award during the association’s annual meeting luncheon on Dec. 10, the PBA recently announced.

Former PBA Chancellor Sayde J. Ladov will receive the PNC Achievement Award during the event, which will also highlight chancellor-elect William P. Fedullo, of counsel to Rosen, Schafer & DiMeo, as he outlines his plans for the bar association for 2014.

Shapiro, who is a former chair of the Board of Governors, was the first woman to be appointed to a district court within in the Third Circuit when she began serving her term on the bench back in 1978, according to the PBA.

Shapiro, who is now a senior judge at the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, was one of only eight female judges in the country at that time, and only the 12^th female jurist in United States history.

Shapiro was also the first female partner at Dechert LLP, which is where she worked while in private practice.

“Judge Shapiro has served with distinction on the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for over 35 years, and she has made a profound and lasting contribution to the administration of justice in Philadelphia and the surrounding area,” wrote Roberta D. Liebenberg, one of many people who nominated Shapiro for the Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Distinguished Jurist Award.

The award, according to the bar association, recognizes a judge who adheres to the “highest ideals of judicial service,” according to the PBA, which noted that Shapiro is the first federal female judge to be given the award.

Liebenberg went on to write that Shapiro’s six decades of distinguished service to the legal profession and the judiciary make her “eminently well-qualified for receipt of the Brennan Award.

“Significantly, no female federal judge has yet received that Award, and I can think of no one more deserving than Judge Shapiro,” Liebenberg wrote.

Ladov, who is a partner at Dolchin, Slotkin & Todd, and served as chancellor of the PBA back in 2008, will receive an award formerly known as the Fidelity Award, which recognizes significant accomplishments in improving the administration of justice.

“Sayde has enjoyed an outstanding career helping those who need the law to make them whole, always knowing that this is the meaning of professionalism,” Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Ann E. Lazarus wrote in a letter nominating Ladov for the PNC Achievement Award.

Ladov, who had convened the first diversity summit of the PBA, also co-chaired the Bench-Bar Conference, she has been a trustee of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, and she both chaired and co-chaired the Andrew Hamilton Ball, according to the bar association.

In addition to her involvement with the PBA, Ladov has also been active with both the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania trial Lawyers Associations, she has served as a director of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and she served as chancellor of the Tau Epsilon Rho Law Society, according to the PBA.

She was also founder of the Brandeis Law Society.