Dickinson Wright Chairman Emeritus Dennis Archer to Receive the ABA Medal
- Archer, Dennis W.
- In the News
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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that Chairman Emeritus Dennis W. Archer has been chosen to receive the ABA Medal, the highest award of the American Bar Association.
“I am indeed, humbled and deeply honored,” Mr. Archer said. “I have been serving in the ABA’s House of Delegates since 1979. And each year whenever the ABA Medal has been awarded, I have felt that those who were awarded the medal were outstanding legal giants and worthy of receiving the highest award that the ABA can bestow upon a lawyer or judge.”
“As I sat in the House over the years I wondered whether I might ever be found worthy of consideration given the award winners of the magnitude of a Thurgood Marshall, Oliver Hill, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Hillary Rodham Clinton. So when Paulette Brown let me know I would receive the award, I did all that I could to contain my emotions because it is such a unique and high honor.”
Mr. Archer is Chairman Emeritus of Dickinson Wright PLLC. He served two four-year terms as mayor of the City of Detroit (1994-2001) and earned national and international respect for his success in changing Detroit’s image and direction. He is past president of the ABA, breaking the color barrier as the first African-American president in 2003, and has been active in several bar associations, eventually serving as president of the State Bar of Michigan, Wolverine Bar Association and National Bar Association. In addition to his service to the legal profession, Mr. Archer serves on TopBuild (BLD), a publically traded company located in Daytona Beach, Fla. and has served on numerous charitable and civic boards, including the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan.
Mr. Archer will receive the ABA Medal at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco during the General Assembly on August 6, 2016.
The ABA Medal recognizes exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence and is given only in years when the ABA Board of Governors determines a nominee has provided exceptional and distinguished service to the law and the legal profession. Among previous recipients are legendary justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Felix Frankfurter, Thurgood Marshall, William J. Brennan, Jr., and Sandra Day O’Connor. Other recipients include Oliver Hill, Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski; human rights activist Father Robert Drinan; co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, William H. Gates, Sr.; and prominent attorneys David Boies and Theodore Olson.
“I am indeed, humbled and deeply honored,” Mr. Archer said. “I have been serving in the ABA’s House of Delegates since 1979. And each year whenever the ABA Medal has been awarded, I have felt that those who were awarded the medal were outstanding legal giants and worthy of receiving the highest award that the ABA can bestow upon a lawyer or judge.”
“As I sat in the House over the years I wondered whether I might ever be found worthy of consideration given the award winners of the magnitude of a Thurgood Marshall, Oliver Hill, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Hillary Rodham Clinton. So when Paulette Brown let me know I would receive the award, I did all that I could to contain my emotions because it is such a unique and high honor.”
Mr. Archer is Chairman Emeritus of Dickinson Wright PLLC. He served two four-year terms as mayor of the City of Detroit (1994-2001) and earned national and international respect for his success in changing Detroit’s image and direction. He is past president of the ABA, breaking the color barrier as the first African-American president in 2003, and has been active in several bar associations, eventually serving as president of the State Bar of Michigan, Wolverine Bar Association and National Bar Association. In addition to his service to the legal profession, Mr. Archer serves on TopBuild (BLD), a publically traded company located in Daytona Beach, Fla. and has served on numerous charitable and civic boards, including the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan.
Mr. Archer will receive the ABA Medal at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco during the General Assembly on August 6, 2016.
The ABA Medal recognizes exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence and is given only in years when the ABA Board of Governors determines a nominee has provided exceptional and distinguished service to the law and the legal profession. Among previous recipients are legendary justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Felix Frankfurter, Thurgood Marshall, William J. Brennan, Jr., and Sandra Day O’Connor. Other recipients include Oliver Hill, Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski; human rights activist Father Robert Drinan; co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, William H. Gates, Sr.; and prominent attorneys David Boies and Theodore Olson.
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