HARRISBURG (May 24, 1999) -- Outgoing PBA President Leslie Anne Miller, a shareholder in the Philadelphia law firm of McKissock and Hoffman P.C., was presented with the Anne X. Alpern Award by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession May 6 during the organization�s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

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.

�Throughout her tenure as president of the PBA, Leslie has been a tireless advocate for women in the legal profession,� Judge Phyllis Beck said during the award presentation. �Her efforts to enhance the role of women and create a balanced playing field for male and female lawyers is just one example of Leslie�s extraordinary leadership.�

As the 104th president of the PBA, Miller focused her efforts on supporting greater funding for Legal Services and the need for increased pro bono activity in the legal community, creating the Council on Judicial Independence to promote an independent judiciary and reforming the association�s judicial evaluation process.

Miller has given a career of service to the PBA and has held offices such as the first woman chair of the PBA House of Delegates, first chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession and first woman chair of the Young Lawyers Division. She has been an active member of the Philadelphia Bar Association and also served as Judge Pro Tempore in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Miller also served as a faculty member for a variety of continuing legal education programs throughout the commonwealth.

In addition, Miller has received numerous honors and awards. She was elected an alumnae trustee of Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University and recently was named an alumni fellow of the university; named to the Pennsylvania Honor Roll of Women; honored with the Sylvia Rambo Award from Dickinson School of Law; awarded the Alumnae Medal of Honor from Mount Holyoke College; and presented with the President�s Award from the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Active in charitable, civic and cultural organizations, Miller serves on the boards of directors of the Pennsylvania Ballet, WHYY Public Television Station and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Miller is a cum laude graduate of Mount Holyoke College and received a master�s degree from Rutger�s University, where she was a fellow at The Eagleton Institute of Politics. She earned her Juris Doctor from Dickinson School of Law and an LLM with honors in Trial Advocacy from Temple University School of Law.