Ruthe C. Ashley, Justice Sabrina Shizue McKenna, Kalpana Srinivasan, and Drucilla “Dru” Stender Ramey (In Memoriam) will be honored with the Spirit of Excellence award at the ABA Midyear Meeting during the Titans for Change Gala.
The Spirit of Excellence award is presented annually to celebrate the efforts and accomplishments of lawyers who work to promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession. The award’s motto is “Ad Astra Per Aspera”, to the stars through difficulty, which was selected to symbolize the struggle of racially and ethnically diverse lawyers as they travel the road to personal and professional success.
Ruthe C. Ashley, Patron Fellow, was the founding partner of the first Asian American woman-owned law firm in Sacramento, became the first Asian American assistant dean at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and the first diversity officer and division chief for external affairs at CalPERS. In addition, she helped establish California’s first public high school Law Academies, later created California LAW (Leadership, Access, Workforce), and founded the California Legal Pathways Collaborative.
Justice Sabrina Shizue McKenna, Fellow, spent 17 years as a state trial court judge, before being appointed to the Hawaii Supreme Court in 2011, which made her the the first openly LGBTQ Asian Pacific American to serve on a state court of last resort. She also served as the acting chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court from October 2025 to May 2026, and within the Hawaii judiciary, helped advance the inclusion of gender identity and gender expression in anti-bias and harassment policies and judicial conduct protections.
Kalpana Srinivasan, Life Fellow, became the first woman, first person of color and first attorney in Susman Godfrey’s history to rise from associate to managing partner in 2020. She has been recognized with the Chambers Gender Diversity Lawyer of the Year Award, the South Asian Bar Association of North America’s Cornerstone Award, and, in 2026, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Justice in Action Award.
Drucilla “Dru” Stender Ramey, Life Fellow, is being honored in memoriam after her passing earlier this year. She began her career working on civil rights and school desegregation matters, including service as a Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) attorney. She served in leadership roles for the National Association of Women Judges and the Bar Association of San Francisco, where in 1989 she helped found the California Minority Counsel Program, which continues to expand professional opportunities and leadership pathways for attorneys of color.
Read more here.