Albert R. Dilley Deborah A. LaBelle Linda D. Bernard Hon. Victoria A. Roberts Saul A. Green

The State Bar of Michigan has selected Linda D. Bernard, Albert R. Dilley, Saul A. Green, Deborah A. LaBelle and Hon. Victoria A. Roberts as recipients of this year's Champion of Justice Awards.

The State Bar will honor these five outstanding lawyers and judges during the Thursday luncheon of the Bar's Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids on September 16.

Linda D. Bernard of Detroit is the President and CEO of Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services (WCNLS), the largest provider of civil legal services, mediation services and law-related education in Michigan. At WCNLS, she has provided leadership in the development of projects designed to meet the legal needs of children, placed the homeless in safe housing and has been an advocate on behalf of low-income people throughout the region. Bernard has served on many State Bar committees and is a founding member of the State Bar's Delivery of Legal Services Committee. Bernard was nominated by the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association.

Grand Rapids native Albert R. Dilley earned his nomination by the Board of Trustees of the Grand Rapids Bar Association for his long history of being an advocate for the protection of individual rights and seeking to promote the rule of law. In his 50 years of practicing law, Dilley has sometimes had to take on unpopular cases like municipal annexation efforts in the 1960s and First Amendment church-state issues in the 1980s. Currently, he practices law with his daughter and son-in-law at Dilley & Rominger.

Saul A. Green of Detroit is currently the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Green is a former Wolverine Bar Association president and has received many awards for his work with the University of Michigan Alumni Association. Green chaired the State Bar Committee on the Expansion of Under-represented Groups in the Law from 1988 to 1994 and co-chaired the State Bar Task Force on Racial/Ethnic and Gender Issues in the Courts and Legal Profession. This life member of the NAACP was nominated by the D. Augustus Staker Bar Association.

Deborah A. LaBelle is a civil rights attorney from Ann Arbor whose legal practice over the past decade has focused on class action litigation for the rights of women prisoners and environmental rights for urban citizens. Before nominating her for this award, the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan-Washtenaw Region presented LaBelle with the 1998 Pro Bono Award for her work on behalf of women prisoners. She has also been involved in human rights and cultural issues both on the national and international level.

Hon. Victoria A. Roberts of Detroit is currently a federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan and served as the 62nd president of the State Bar of Michigan. Her strong leadership in voluntary legal services to the poor and dedication to pro bono and public service initiatives earned her nomination by the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association. During her State Bar presidency, she appointed the State Bar Task Force on Racial/Ethnic and Gender Issues in the Courts and Legal Profession and implemented the State Bar's first "Access to Justice for All Hotline" for the public during the State Bar's Annual Meeting.

All recipients were nominated by local bar associations and selected by the State Bar's Board of Commissioners.

Not more than five Champion of Justice Awards are awarded each year by the State Bar. Recipients must be a member of the State Bar for at least 10 years, have integrity and adherence to the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession and must have an extraordinary professional accomplishment which benefits the nation, state or local community in which the lawyer or judge lives.