The VBA's Young Lawyers Division won four Awards of Achievement from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division in its 2023 competition. The honors came in every category in which submissions were made: service to the public, service to the bar, newsletter and comprehensive programming.

This is the 16th consecutive year the ABA Awards of Achievement recognized The Virginia Bar Association YLD for comprehensive programming, an award for a group of activities. The five submitted projects in this category were middle school training in mediation skills, an interactive legal education presentation about a 150+-year-old maritime statute and how that act impacts the speaker's practice, a "Mom, Esquire" networking event and panel discussion, the fourth annual Lawyer Wellness Challenge and the 17th annual Legal Food Frenzy.

The middle school training also won individually in the service to the public category. YLD member Tia Lane of the Mitchell Law Group performed the training in a pilot program at Skyline Middle School in Harrisonburg. That program grew out of a presentation on civil discourse by the VBA Committee on Special Issues of National & State Importance and became a civility project named VBA at Karsh, in conjunction with other partners.

A two-part wellness project that prioritized self-care, "Know Well: Preparing Yourself and Your Firm for the Holidays," earned notice in the service to the bar category. The YLD presented it in collaboration with the Virginia Judges & Lawyers Assistance Program.

Additionally, Opening Statement, the YLD's quarterly newsletter, garnered recognition in that category for a ninth time.

"The goal of the ABA Awards of Achievement is to recognize the best projects organized by young lawyers to serve their communities, whether for the benefit of their colleagues in the legal profession or the public more broadly," said Awards of Achievement project chair Nate Shepherd, who joined the VBA in 2019 as a newly licensed Virginia attorney.

"Given this focus, the VBA YLD's year-over-year success in the Awards of Achievement represents not only a tradition of excellence, but a consistent commitment to public service," he added. "This effort involves both maintaining long-standing programs, such as the annual Legal Food Frenzy, and supporting innovations, such as the Building Bridges mediation skills program for middle schoolers."

The winners were announced this month at the ABA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

"We are grateful to YLD members for their contributions to these projects and glad that the ABA Awards of Achievement offer an opportunity for our members to be commended for their efforts," Shepherd said. "They earned it."

The Young Lawyers Division is a subgroup of VBA members who are age 40 or younger or of any age and in practice five years or less. The YLD is involved with student chapters at the law schools in Virginia in addition to its other projects and activities in service to the bar and the public.

The Virginia Bar Association is the first and largest statewide voluntary professional organization of lawyers and judges in Virginia. Explore more at www.vba.org.