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Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Bar Committee to Sponsor Pittsburgh Conference and Present Achievement Award

HARRISBURG (Feb. 26, 2007) - The 19th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Minority Attorney Conference will be held March 22-23 at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh. Sponsored by the PBA Minority Bar Committee, this year's conference is titled "Playing by the Rules? Legal Issues Affecting Diverse Populations in the 21st Century" and includes panel discussions about new restrictions on immigration, equal protection in education and the role of housing authorities. Lawyers attending the conference receive up to seven hours of substantive continuing legal education (CLE) credit.

During the conference luncheon on March 23, the Minority Bar Committee will present its 2007 A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award to William T. Coleman Jr. Currently a senior partner at a national law firm in Washington, D.C., Coleman was appointed by President Ford to serve as this nation's fourth Secretary of Transportation and has served as advisor to or consultant for six other presidents over the course of his career. Coleman was also one of the lead strategists and coauthor of the legal brief in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) in which the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

Coleman's Pennsylvania ties include his undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania and employment at a Philadelphia law firm.

The A. Leon Higginbotham Award recognizes the accomplishments of a lawyer or judge who has demonstrated dedication to the legal profession and the minority community through civil, community or legal service. Higginbotham, who died in 1998, was a civic leader, author, academic and federal appeals court judge who fought tirelessly against racial discrimination.

For more information about the conference, visit the PBA Web site at http://www.pabar.org or contact the PBA Membership Services Center at 800-932-0311.