HARRISBURG (Oct. 27, 2022) — Anne N. John of John and John, Uniontown, and Julie Auerbach of Astor Weiss Kaplan & Mandel LLP, Philadelphia, will be honored with the 2022 Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) C. Dale McClain Quality of Life/Balance Award during the association’s Committee/Section Day on Nov. 17 in Harrisburg.
Presented by the PBA Quality of Life/Balance Committee, the annual award recognizes the substantial contributions that Pennsylvania attorneys have made by identifying issues relevant to balancing the professional and personal lives of their peers, and the progress made in assisting attorneys with maintaining and improving their overall quality of life.
The award is named after C. Dale McClain, one of the founders of the Quality of Life/Balance Committee and the 114th president of PBA. McClain spent much of his career fulfilling the mission of the committee through educating attorneys on the importance of attaining a quality of life/balance in the practice of law.
Co-chairs of the PBA Women in the Profession (WIP) Quality of Life Committee, John and Auerbach are being recognized for their continued work to help attorneys learn to balance their professional and personal lives through wellness activities, educational tools and social events.
John’s and Auerbach’s notable initiatives include coordinating the 2022 PBA WIP Wellness Luncheon Series that provided a forum for discussions about issues facing women lawyers. Program topics included assessing true financial worth, balancing career and childcare, finding time for fitness, navigating interoffice politics and paving the way for inclusivity in law firm culture. The co-chairs organized several additional WIP activities, including self-defense workshops, mindfulness walks and yoga sessions.
To ensure wellness tools would be available to current and future PBA members, John and Auerbach were instrumental in developing the WIP Quality of Life Toolkit. In addition, working to provide a sense of community when many people were experiencing isolation during the pandemic, John and Auerbach helped plan cooking classes. They also encouraged a sense of community by engaging in activities, such as the succulent planting and “paint and sip” programs, with other PBA groups.
A long-time member of the PBA, John is a past president and has been active in numerous committees. During her PBA 2019-20 presidency, John formed the PBA COVID-19 Task Force that developed tools for lawyers to cope with professional challenges raised by the pandemic. She created the PBA Civility in the Profession Committee to focus on improving collegiality and working relationships among legal professionals. John also formed the PBA Legal Career Transitions Committee to help lawyers manage changes within and beyond the legal profession. In addition, John served as secretary for the PBA Board of Governors from 2013-16 and a zone governor from 2009-12.
Among her extensive PBA committee leadership roles, John served as chair of the PBA House of Delegates Draft Committee, chair of the PBA Leadership Recruitment and Development Committee, chair and co-vice chair of the PBA Review and Certifying Board, co-chair of the PBA Shale Energy Law Committee and co-vice chair of the PBA Planning Committee.
A frequent course planner and speaker for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, John has presented on numerous topics including civility in the profession; federal practice; and oil and gas issues, including lease interpretation, groundwater contamination and litigation.
John is a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Elder Justice in the Courts. She also served as a member of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Hearing Committee.
John earned her J.D. from Dickinson School of Law and her B.A. from Dickinson College.
Auerbach, active in the PBA since 1992, currently serves as a member of the Women in the Profession Committee and Executive Council, Medical Marijuana and Hemp Law Committee and Family Law Section. At the county level, she is a member of the Delaware County Bar Association Family Law Section. Nationally, she is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and serves on its Legislation Committee as well as its Journal Editorial Board for the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
A frequent lecturer on family law-related topics, Auerbach presents at events for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the National Business Institute. She has written extensively on family law matters with articles appearing in Philadelphia’s The Legal Intelligencer, the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Bar Reporter and the PBA Family Law Section’s Pennsylvania Family Lawyer.
Auerbach’s volunteer work includes serving as a board member of the Supportive Older Women's Network, which provides resources for older women, including grandparents; and attorney affiliate for the Women's Resource Center in Wayne, where she volunteers for its legal night program that provides free 30-minute consultations for women with family law issues.
Auerbach earned her J.D. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey School of Law, Camden; and her B.A. from University of Michigan.