ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--William J. Nealon has been selected to receive the American Inns of Court 2011 Professionalism Award for the Third Circuit. The award will be presented by the Honorable Theodore McKee, on Wednesday, May 4, 2011, in Philadelphia.
Judge Nealon sits on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The federal building in which the court is housed is named for him. He is one of six federal judges appointed by President John F. Kennedy who remain on the bench. In July of this year, he will become the longest-serving district judge in the history of the Third Circuit.
Judge Nealon served as the district’s chief judge from 1976 to 1989. He served as a member of the Committee on the Administration of the Criminal Law of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1987 to 1990. He received the Annual Distinguished Judicial Service Award from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association in 1979; and in 1983 was named Outstanding Federal Trial Judge by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. In 2010 he received the U.S. Department of Justice Medallion of Service from Attorney General Eric Holder.
Judge Nealon served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps before earning his undergraduate degree from Villanova University in 1947. He received his juris doctor degree from Catholic University in 1950, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1951. He was appointed as a judge to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas in 1960, and was appointed to the federal bench in 1962.
“Judge Nealon is an outstanding jurist,” says Ann Lavelle Powell, Esquire, president of the Lackawanna County Bar Association. “His long tenure on the bench has been marked by dedication, integrity, scholarship, and leadership. As a trial judge, he has directed and inspired generations of young lawyers to more effective representation of their clients.”
Judge Nealon has engaged in extensive service to community, serving terms on the boards of Scranton’s Mercy Hospital, the University of Scranton, the Catholic Youth Center, and the Everhart Museum. He and his wife, Jean, have 10 children and 27 grandchildren.
The American Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, fosters excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility, and legal skills. The organization’s membership includes more than 28,000 federal, state, and local judges; lawyers; law professors; and law students in more than 350 chapters nationwide and more than 85,000 alumni members. The Professionalism Awards are presented on a circuit basis nationwide. The awards are underwritten in part by Thomson Reuters. More information is available at www.innsofcourt.org.