HARRISBURG (April 27, 2004) � The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Commission on Women in the Profession will present its Anne X. Alpern Award, Lynette Norton Award and the Award for the Promotion of Women to Leadership Positions during its eleventh annual conference May 12 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center. The awards will be presented at a noon luncheon, which will feature political commentator and strategist Mary Matalin, as the keynote speaker.

Chief Judge Donetta Ambrose, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, will receive the annual Anne X. Alpern Award. This award is given to a female lawyer or judge who demonstrates excellence in the legal profession and who makes a significant professional impact on women in the law. The award, established in 1994, was named for Anne X. Alpern, who was Pennsylvania�s attorney general in 1959 and the first woman state attorney general in the nation.

Chief Judge Ambrose began her career as an assistant attorney general in the then-Pennsylvania Department of Justice. She went on to private practice before becoming an assistant district attorney in Westmoreland County. In 1981, Chief Judge Ambrose was the first woman elected to the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas and served in that court until 1993 when she was appointed to the federal bench. In 2002, Chief Judge Ambrose became the first woman to hold the position of chief judge for the U.S District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Chief Judge Ambrose is a member of the Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County, Allegheny County and Women�s Bar associations. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a member of the American Judicature Society and the International and National Association of Women Judges. Active in her community, Chief Judge Ambrose is on the Board of Trustees of Magee Women�s Hospital and is a member of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America and the William Penn Fraternal Organization. She is an honorary member of Delta Kappa Gamma and has been active with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Westmoreland County.

Chief Judge Ambrose has been presented with numerous awards, including the 1996 Annual Woman of the Year Award from the Women�s Law Association of Duquesne University School of Law and the 1990 Woman of Achievement Award from the Greensburg Business & Professional Women and the Greensburg Tribune-Review. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Duquesne University and graduated cum laude from the Duquesne University School of Law.

Kerry A. Kearney, a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Reed Smith, will receive the Lynette Norton Award, which was created in memory of Lynette Norton, a founding member of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession who died in 2002. Lynette Norton was an advocate for young women in the legal profession and worked to promote women�s rights and literacy. This award is designed to recognize and encourage female attorneys who excel in litigation skills and who are devoted to mentoring female lawyers.

Kearney, who joined Reed Smith in 1975 and was deputy head of the firm�s Pittsburgh Litigation Group, currently leads the firm�s Privacy Task Force. Active in the Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Bar associations, Kearney is a member of the PBA Civil Litigation Section and is a past secretary of the ACBA. Kearney currently chairs the Western District of Pennsylvania Advisory Committee for the Study of Rules of Practice and is the treasurer of TECHI (The Extended Court House, Inc.). She is a former president of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County and past member of the Lawyers� Advisory Committee for the Third Circuit Judicial Conference. Kearney also was vice chair of the American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice sections. In addition, Kearney served on the boards of the Verland Foundation, the River City Brass Band and Temple Law School Board of Visitors.

Kearney is an accomplished speaker and author and has published many articles on health care-related topics. She is a graduate of Marywood College and a magna cum laude graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law.

The law firm of Woodcock Washburn LLP will receive the Award for the Promotion of Women to Leadership Positions. This award was established in 2002 to recognize the law firm from among the 100 largest law firms in Pennsylvania that has done the most to promote its women lawyers to leadership positions within the firm. These leadership positions include managing partner, equity partner and department/section/practice group head.

Woodcock Washburn is a national law firm with 75 of its 82 lawyers located in Philadelphia. It is a specialized intellectual property firm, with most of its lawyers also having training as scientists and engineers. Woodcock has 26.3 percent women equity partners, 31.8 percent total women partners and 45.5 percent women lawyer administrators, including practice group co-chairs. Its three-member Policy Committee is composed of one woman and two men. The firm has two female lawyers working part-time and allows part-time lawyers to compete for partnership.

For more information about the conference and luncheon or to view registration materials, visit the PBA Web site at www.pabar.org. Conference and luncheon registration materials also are available by calling the PBA Member Service Center at 1-800-932-0311.

Contact: Marcy Mallory (x. 2247) & Jennifer Branstetter (x. 2216)
PBA Communications Department
1-800-932-0311