CUNNINGHAM BOUNDS PRESENTS ALABAMA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JANIE LEDLOW SHORES
Nov 3, 2011
On Thursday, October 13, 2011, at The Boston Harbor Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts,
David Wirtes and Steven Nicholas of Cunningham Bounds presented Justice
Janie Ledlow Shores with the first Litigation Counsel of America
Justice Janie L. Shores Trailblazer Award.
Justice Shores personifies the spirit of this award. From humble beginnings
she persevered, leaving behind the cotton fields of rural south Alabama
in the 1930s and 40s. She graduated from college when most of her female
contemporaries were at home on the farm, then at a time when female lawyers
were a rarity, graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law
at the top of her class and as an editor of the Alabama Law Review. Early
on, Justice Shores took early stands against racial segregation when doing
so in Alabama was not just unpopular, but often dangerous. She fought
every day against the prejudices pervasive in life in the Deep South.
Eventually, she earned her way to the top, winning a seat on the Alabama
Supreme Court, and thereby becoming the first woman ever elected to any
appellate judicial post in the United States. Since braving those new
frontiers, a full thirty percent of all this country’s appellate
jurists are now women.
Justice Shores served with distinction on the Supreme Court of Alabama
for 25 years. She participated in decisions of that Court that now shape
the way we live and work in Alabama. Her influence will be felt for generations.
The
Justice Janie L. Shores Trailblazer Award
will be presented annually to a member of the bench or bar whose lifetime
achievements in the law serve as the beacon of high standards that all
should aspire to follow. For selection of future award winners, emphasis
will be placed on efforts and acts within the legal profession that are
cutting-edge in the advancement of justice.