HARRISBURG (May 2001) - Pittsburgh lawyer Nora Barry Fischer was presented with the Anne X. Alpern Award by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession during the organization�s annual meeting held this month in Pittsburgh.

The Anne X. Alpern 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, Pennsylvania�s attorney general in 1959 who was the first woman state attorney general in the nation.

�Nora has, by her words and actions, enhanced the stature of all women in the legal profession,� said Judge Donetta Ambrose of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. �Nora is an accomplished, seasoned litigator and a skillful mediator whose services have been utilized and appreciated by the bar and the state and federal bench.�

A native of Pittsburgh, Fischer is the administrative partner of the Pittsburgh law firm Pietrogallo, Bosick & Gordon. She received her law degree from Notre Dame Law School and is a magna cum laude graduate of St. Mary�s College. She also is a National Institute of Trial Advocacy Instructor at both the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Duquesne University School of Law.

Fischer is active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association, having served two terms as a member of the House of Delegates and one term as co-chair of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession. She is a past trustee of the Allegheny County Bar Association Foundation and president of the American Inns of Court, Pittsburgh chapter. In addition, Fischer is treasurer of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County and is an active member of the Executive Women�s Council of Pittsburgh and Insurance Professionals of Pittsburgh. She also was the recipient of the Special Service Award from the Allegheny County Bar Association for the presentation of a �Tribute to the First 100 Women Attorneys in Allegheny County� in 1993.

Active in her community, Fischer has been a fundraiser for the Western Pennsylvania Heart Association, the United Way and the Children�s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In addition, she served as a hotline volunteer for the YWCA Legal Resources for Women Program.