Cherokee Attorney Mary Smith to Receive 2012 ABA's Spirit of Excellence Award

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Mary L. Smith - Cherokee

Native Brief: WASHINGTON - Mary L. Smith, president-elect of the National Native American Bar Association, will receive the 2012 Spirit of Excellence Award, an award given out by the American Bar Association annually. She is a tribal citizen of the Cherokee Naiton.

The annual Spirit of Excellence Awards celebrate the accomplishments of lawyers who promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession.

"Mary was the highest-ranking Native American in the Clinton White House," said commission Chair Reginald M. Turner. "During her time in the White House, Mary was the architect for a historic Native American policy initiative, which spanned areas such as health care, economic development, education, the digital divide and criminal justice issues. This initiative resulted in an increase in funding of $1.1 billion for Native American programs across all federal agencies."

Smith advances diversity in the legal profession through her participation in the American Bar Association, the National Native American Bar Association, and the Chicago Bar Association and its Alliance for Women.

In 2009, Smith was elected the first American Indian woman to the American Bar Association's Board of Governors in the association's more than 130-year history. That same year Smith completed a three-year term with the Commission on Women in the Profession, where she was the only enrolled tribal member of the commission in its entire history. She was the chair of the Women of Color Committee and directed the Women of Color Research Initiative, a nationally known research program that has developed seminal national research and landmark reporting on the hiring and retention of women of color in the legal profession.

Smith has focused her diversity and inclusion efforts on promoting issues of importance to women of color and Native Americans. Her work in the White House lives on today. Smith coordinated the legal issues related to Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments, which requires federal agencies to establish regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in the development of federal policies that have tribal implications. This executive order is still in effect and provides the current guidance for all federal agencies.

The Spirit of Excellence award will be presented during the 2012 American Bar Association's Midyear Meeting, February 4, in New Orleans.

posted November 5, 2011 6:00 am edt