Honorable Gerald W. VandeWalle, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Dakota, has been selected to receive the American Inns of Court’s 2008 Professionalism Award for the Eighth Circuit. The award will be presented at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on August 13, 2008.
The Eighth Circuit Professionalism Award is presented bi-annually to honor a senior practicing judge or lawyer whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession. Candidates are nominated through circuit-wide open nominations and selected by a panel of representatives from both the circuit and the American Inns of Court Foundation.
Born and raised in North Dakota, Chief Justice VandeWalle graduated from the University of North Dakota with honors before earning his law degree from North Dakota in 1958. He was first appointed as a Special Assistant Attorney General working for the North Dakota Attorney General until his appointment as First Assistant Attorney General in 1975. He was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in 1978 and was subsequently elected to full ten-year terms in 1984, 1994, and 2004. He was selected by his colleagues to be Chief Justice in 1993, a position he retains to this date.
Renowned as an active and engaged jurist, Chief Justice VandeWalle was appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to the Federal-State Jurisdiction Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1997 to 2004. He has also served as President of the Conference of Chief Justices, chair of the National Center for State Courts, and chair of the Council of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar of the American Bar Association. He is an active Master of the Bench of the Judge Bruce VanSickle American Inn of Court in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The American Inns of Court Foundation, America’s oldest, largest and fastest growing mentoring organization, presents Professionalism Awards at participating circuits nationwide. The awards are underwritten in part by Thomson-West Group.
Firmly rooted in the noble 800-year-old tradition of the Inns of Court in England, the American Inns exist to supplement the academic and technical training of American lawyers through the time-honored English tradition and practice of “pupilage”—the sharing of wisdom, insight and experience of seasoned judges and lawyers with newer practitioners. Using this approach, the American Inns of Court seeks to foster excellence in professionalism.
The American Inns of Court includes over 25,000 federal, state and local judges, lawyers, law professors and law students in some 350 chapters across the United States. Additionally, there are over 80,000 alumni members. Foundation offices are located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. More information is available at www.innsofcourt.org.