Minority Bar Association awards set for Sept. 15

The Minority Bar Foundation Inc. will host its annual awards ceremony starting at 5:30 p.m., Sept. 15, at Patrick’s Rooftop, 500 Pearl St., Buffalo.

Each year the Foundation recognizes law practitioners, students, community leaders and organizations that serve minority communities.

This year’s honorees include:

• Legal Service Award: Stephanie J. Calhoun, assistant New York state Attorney General, Western New York region. Calhoun is the chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Bar Association of Erie County. She has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure that the Bar Association has a meaningful diversity and inclusion agenda. Calhoun also has worked in the community with Foundation programs such as the essay contest to introduce high school students to the legal profession.
• Rose Sconiers Trailblazer Award: State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Carter, administrative judge, Eighth Judicial District. A 1989 graduate of the University at Buffalo Law School, Carter is the first African-American person to serve as the administrative judge for the Eight Judicial District. Prior to this appointment, Carter was the supervising judge of the Family Courts in the Eighth Judicial District. Carter was elected to the bench in November of 2002 and re-elected in 2012.
• Education Award: Tolulope F. Odunsi. A 2015 cum laude graduate of American University’s Washington School of Law, Odunsi is a former assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University at Buffalo Law School, and currently serves as a lecturer in law, legal analysis, writing, and research. Among her notable contributions at UB Law were creating programs to address social justice and racial inequity in Western New York, drafting the Law School’s DEI strategic plan, and helping to develop specialized support programming for underrepresented students. Odunsi has been recognized by Buffalo Business First as a member of its 2017 30 Under 30 class, by the Eighth Judicial District Gender and Fairness Committee as its Outstanding Woman in the Law in 2021, and as the Professor of the Year at the 2022 UB Law School Students of Color Dinner.
• Community Service Award: Dionne Williamson, president/founder, UPward Designs for Life. Williamson leads an organization that furnishes homes and transform lives for those in need. UPward Designs for life restores hope, dignity, and independence for various segments of our community. UPward Designs for Life is the only not for profit organization of its kind in New York.
• John L. Hargrave Law Student Award: Glenae R. Garlock. Garlock is active with the Black Law Students Association, Latin American Law Students Association, Native and Indigenous Law Students Association, OUTLaw, Minority Bar Association of Western New York, Law for Black Lives, and Black Love Resists in the Rust.
• Garlock also is part of the planning committee for the Legal Diversity Fair sponsored by the Minority Bar Foundation, MBA, and Erie County Bar Association of WNY.
• Tickets are on sale now through Sept. 1, 2022, and can be reserved by contacting Tracy Knisley by email at [email protected].
• Tickets for the awards ceremony are $100 each and all proceeds benefit financial assistance for law students and people interested in a career in law.