Florida Life Fellow Neal R. Sonnett
August 14, 2008, Fellows in the news
CHICAGO, IL - Neal R. Sonnett today became chair of the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. The section focuses on civil rights, civil liberties and the Constitution, and international human rights concerns. Sonnett's term as chair is for one year.
Sonnett is the managing partner of his Miami-based law firm. His practice concentrates on corporate, white-collar and complex criminal cases. Within the ABA he has been deeply involved in rule-of-law issues as chair of three association task forces on enemy combatants, domestic surveillance and presidential signing statements. He also serves as the ABA's observer for the Guantanamo military commission trials and is past chair of the Criminal Justice Section. He has served as chair of the Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs and as member of the House of Delegates and the Board of Governors Task Force on Gatekeeper Regulation in the Profession.
On August 8 of this year, during the ABA Annual Meeting in New York City, Sonnett was presented with the 2008 John H. Pickering Award of Achievement from the American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division. The award honors the life and accomplishments of John H. Pickering, an outstanding lawyer who was involved in a wide variety of pro bono activities and law-related societal issues. Award recipients have demonstrated outstanding legal ability and have compiled a distinguished record of service to the profession and their communities. In addition to the Senior Lawyers Division, the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities , and the standing committees on Pro Bono and Public Service and Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants take part in the recipient selection process.
Sonnett is the recipient of the 2007 Outstanding Service Award from The Fellows of The American Bar Foundation. He was named an "Alumnus of Distinction" by the University of Miami School of Law in 2007, only the fourth time that honor has been conferred. Among many other honors, he has received the Anti-Defamation League Jurisprudence Award and The Florida Bar Foundation Medal of Honor, the highest award bestowed on a lawyer by the legal profession in the state of Florida. He is a former president of the American Judicature Society, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Florida Bar Foundation.
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