2027 ABA Spirit of Excellence Award

The Call for Recommendations is Now Open

General Information

NAPABA is now accepting recommendations for its nominee for the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award. This prestigious ABA award, honors lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in their careers while advancing diversity, equity, and opportunity within the legal profession.

NAPABA is proud to have nominated many outstanding leaders who have been recognized with this prestigious award. Most recently, Sandra Leung was honored at the ABA Midyear Meeting in February 2026. Other past NAPABA honorees include Judge Benes Aldana, Ivan Fong, Judge Dolly Gee, Kay H. Hodge, Justice Goodwin Liu, John Lim, Dale Minami, Karen Narasaki, Judge, Jacqueline Nguyen, Donald Tamaki and John Yang. To learn more about the award or view past ABA honorees, click here.

The deadline to submit a recommendation is Thursday, April 30 at 11:59 pm ET

Each year, NAPABA submits a nomination to the ABA recognizing a NAPABA member who:

1. Achieved professional excellence in their fields.
2. Served as role models in overcoming hardships or barriers and achieved success and excellence in the legal profession.
3. Influenced racially and ethnically diverse individuals to pursue and/or to succeed in legal careers.
4. Opened Doors, broken down barriers, or otherwise promoted the full and equal participation of racially and ethnically diverse individuals in the legal profession.
5. Worked with or on behalf of racially and ethnically diverse lawyers from racial or ethnic groups other than their own.
6. Made significant contributions in service or work in the community. 

PLEASE NOTE: To be considered, nominees must be members of both NAPABA and the ABA. If you have questions about the nomination process, please contact Abie Siegel, Membership Manager. 

Submit a Recommendation

To submit a nominee recommendation, you must use the application form. Submissions are to include the following details: 

1. Nominee contact information. 
   
2. An explanation of why the individual is deserving of the award, which must describe details of how they have met the award criteria outlined above;
3. Nominee resume and/or curriculum vitae;
4. High-resolution digital image of the nominee.
5. Nominee narrative biography.
6. Two letters of support from other individuals or organizations.
7. Optionally, you may include additional supporting information.
   

Submit a Recommendation