HARRISBURG, Pa. (Feb. 14, 2024) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Conference of County Bar Leaders (CCBL) will honor Susan Mondik Key, retired partner at Peacock Keller LLP, Washington, with its Gilbert Nurick Award. The award will be presented during the 58th Annual Conference of County Bar Leaders on March 1 in Gettysburg.
The Gilbert Nurick Award, which is named for the late Harrisburg lawyer who served as PBA president, is given to a member of the PBA who exhibits dedication and service to the leadership and promotion of the organized bar and its activities.
During her 19 years at Peacock Keller, Key focused her practice on estate planning and administration, estate litigation and elder law issues. She also represented school districts in tax assessment litigation. While in that role, Key was appointed as a hearing officer for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Within the PBA, Key was a member of the House of Delegates, Zone 6 governor on the Board of Governors, zone chair and past president for the Young Lawyers Division and member of the Editorial Committee and Elder Law Section. She was also a director for the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation.
A leader in the Washington County Bar Association (WCBA), Key has served as president, secretary, treasurer and Young Lawyers Division president. In addition, she is a trustee and past chair of the Washington County Bar Foundation and was instrumental in establishing its endowment fund. She is the only member to have received all three of the WCBA’s top awards: The Charles C. Keller Distinguished Service Award, the Robert L. Ceisler Professionalism Award and a Certificate of Meritorious Service. Key continues to mentor young women lawyers through WCBA’s mentoring program.
Active in her community, Key served as the second female chair of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. She also has served on the boards of several charitable organizations, including the Church of the Covenant, the Washington Hospital Foundation and the YWCA.
Key earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College and her Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
The CCBL, whose membership includes leaders from county bar associations throughout Pennsylvania and from the PBA, organizes a yearly educational conference focusing on the exchange of innovative bar association projects and ideas, and on the development of mutually beneficial relationships among bar leaders that improve the legal profession.