Former Phila. Bar Assoc. chancellor awarded during Conference of County Bar Leaders

Former Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson was

awarded the 2014 Gilbert Nurick Award during the 48^th Annual Seminar of the Conference of County Bar Leaders in State College, Pa., according to the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

The Conference of County Bar Leaders, which is affiliated with the PBA, presents the Gilbert Nurick Award to an association member who exhibits “dedication and service to the leadership and promotion of the organized bar and its activities, according to the PBA, which announced Wilkinson’s honor on March 18.

Wilkinson served as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2013.

During her time at the helm of the association, Wilkinson created the successful “Chancellor’s Leadership Institute,” which offered free programs for bar association members on everything from leadership development to tools specifically tailored to female lawyers.

Programs were also geared toward younger attorneys and lawyers with diverse backgrounds.

The institute, the PBA stated, “harnessed the wisdom and experience of some of the region’s top legal minds and business leaders.

“In advancing a wide spectrum of leadership opportunities for bar members during her tenure as Chancellor, Kathleen has evoked the true spirit and meaning behind the Gilbert Nurick Award,” Philadelphia Bar Executive Director Mark Tarasiewicz said in a statement.

Before she took over as chancellor in Philadelphia, Wilkinson issued a challenge to law firms and legal organizations to place renewed emphasis, value and recognition on certain important aspects of being a successful attorney, which includes leadership, civility, mentoring, community service and pro bono work, according to the PBA.

“By creating new and unique opportunities for leadership and professional development of our lawyers through the Chancellor’s Leadership Institute, the bar association is working hard to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving profession,” Tarasiewicz said. “The Institute’s work strikes at the very heart of the bar association’s mission to serve the profession and the public by promoting justice, professional excellence and respect for the rule of law.”

The Conference of County Bar Leaders of the PBA, which has members from county bar associations across the commonwealth, holds a yearly educational conference focusing on the exchange of innovative bar association projects and ideas and on the development of mutually beneficial relationships among the bar leaders that improve the legal profession, according to the PBA.