Hon. Benes Z. Aldana (Ret.), Fellow, was named as the 2025 recipient of the Solo and Small Firm Lifetime Achievement Award. He will be presented with the award at the Keithe E. Nelson & Solo & Small Firm Awards Luncheon at the ABA Annual Meeting on August 8, 2025.
The Solo and Small Firm Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes solo and small firm attorneys who are widely accepted by their peers as having significant lifetime distinction, exceptional achievement, and distinction in an exemplary way. The winners will be viewed by other solo and small firm practitioners as epitomizing the ideals of the legal profession and of solo and small firm practitioners.
Judge Aldana most recently served as the President of the National Judicial College, prior to June of this year. He previously served as the Chief Trial Judge of the United State Coast Guard and was the first Asian Pacific (Filipino) American chief trial judge in U.S. military history. He previously served as the Washington co-chair for the Fellows and won the Outstanding State Chair Award in 2011.
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