Attorneys from across the state gathered June 1 to honor 25 legal luminaries at Missouri Lawyers Media’s inaugural ICON Awards ceremony.
About 290 people attended the luncheon event at the Missouri Athletic Club in downtown St. Louis.
Having sifted through scores of nominations earlier in the year, Missouri Lawyers Media honored 25 men and women in the legal profession for their long-standing commitment to the Missouri legal community. Honorees were required to be age 60 or older and to have experience in a senior management-level position with significant decision-making authority for their firm or organization.
Liz Irwin, publisher of Missouri Lawyers Media, praised their 1,139 collective years of practicing law and their many accomplishments, including the founding of law firms and abuse shelters, participation in historic federal inquiries and the exoneration of three wrongfully convicted state inmates.
“These attorneys are representatives of the incredible outcomes that can be achieved through commitment, perseverance and vision,” Irwin said. “Firms bear their names, and communities embrace their benevolence.”
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Photos by T.L. Witt
The awardees were Timothy M. Aylward of Horn Aylward & Bandy; W.H. “Bert” Bates of Lathrop Gage; former Circuit Judge Susan E. Block of Paule Camazine & Blumenthal; Kenneth Brostron of Lashly & Baer; David V. Capes of Capes Sokol; Donald R. Carmody of Carmody MacDonald; John W. Cowden of Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice; Terry B. Crouppen of Brown & Crouppen; former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth of Dowd Bennett; James B. Deutsch of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch; Dennis E. Egan of the Popham Law Firm; Circuit Judge Sandra Farragut-Hemphill of St. Louis County; Maurice B. Graham of Gray, Ritter & Graham; William P. Grant of Grant, Miller & Smith; former Circuit Judge Jon R. Gray of Shook, Hardy & Bacon; former U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. of Armstrong Teasdale; Rebecca T. Magruder, attorney-mediator; James A. Polsinelli of Polsinelli; former Circuit Judge Brendan Ryan, now a neutral with Alaris; Senior U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs of the Western District of Missouri; John S. Sandberg of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard; Judge Mary W. Sheffield of the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District; Charles Weiss of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Dorothy L. White-Coleman of White Coleman & Associates; and former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff, dean emeritus of Saint Louis University School of Law.
The event concluded with a slideshow of photos supplied by the awardees that offered glimpses of their personal and professional memories. The photos included shots of courtroom action, family members and even fishing trips