 |
 |
| archive |
|
|
|
|
Johnson is Recipient of ABA's Spirit of Excellence Award
11/6/03  E. Christopher Johnson, the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of General Motors North America has been chosen by the American Bar Association as a recipient of its Spirit of Excellence Award, which celebrates "the efforts and accomplishments of lawyers who work to promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession." He will receive the award at the ABA's mid-year meeting in San Antonio, Texas on February 7, 2004.
Johnson was nominated for this award for his leading role in organizing the October 2002 "Minority Outside Counsel Networking Conference," a two day national meeting in Detroit that helped promote diversity in the legal profession by building relationships between corporations and minority lawyers. The organizers - General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Comerica Incorporated, raised $128,000 in sponsorship revenue and donated it to the Access to Justice Fund in support of civil legal aid services to low income families in Michigan. Dennis Ross, General Counsel of Ford Motor Company, nominated Johnson for the award. Nomination letters on Johnson's behalf were written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly, the former president of the State Bar Reginald M. Turner and the Executive Vice President of General Motors Thomas A Gottschalk. All three praised his efforts to open the doors for minority lawyers to succeed in the corporate world. Johnson was educated at the United States Military Academy at West Point and received his law degree from New York Law School in 1981. He established himself with the New York firm of Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander and Ferdon before joining General Motors. In his current position at GM, Johnson manages the delivery of all legal services that impact the firm's North America Region and its hundreds of attorneys, support staff and outside law firms.
###
|
print this page
