2008-08-01 23:43:01 -
www.innsofcourt.org - Justice Hugh Maddox, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, a tireless advocate for improving professionalism throughout the American and Alabama legal communities, has been selected to receive the prestigious American Inns of Court's 2008 A. Sherman Christensen Award. The award will be presented at the American Inns of Court's Celebration of Excellence,
hosted by Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the United States Supreme Court, on October 11, 2008.
Given in the name of the founder of the first American Inn of Court, this award is bestowed upon a member of an American Inn of Court who has provided distinguished, exceptional and significant leadership to the American Inns of Court movement. The recipient exemplifies the qualities of leadership and commitment displayed by Judge A. Sherman Christensen. In addition to the award's namesake, previous award winners have included Chief Justice Warren Burger, Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Honorable Howard T. Markey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Professor Sherman L. Cohn of Georgetown University School of Law, and last year's recipient, Justice Randy Holland of the Supreme Court of Delaware.
It has been said that Justice Maddox is the American Inns of Court in Alabama. He was an organizer of the first American Inn of Court organized in Alabama in 1989. Because of his dedication to the highest ideals of professionalism, that Inn now bears his name, the Hugh Maddox American Inn of Court. Justice Maddox has persistently encouraged the legal leadership of Alabama to form new Inns, and his persistence has paid off with eight current Inns and several more organizing on the horizon.
Justice Maddox retired in January, 2001, as the senior associate justice on the Alabama Supreme Court, where he was considered by many to be its intellectual cornerstone. After being appointed to the Supreme Court by then Governor Albert Brewer in 1969, he was elected by the people of Alabama on five different occasions. During his 31 years on the Court, he established a work product that no other Alabama jurist is likely to equal, including 1,650 majority opinions. With a journalistic background, he is a prodigious writer of books, articles, and stories, including a children's book he not only authored but illustrated.
He graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in journalism, and served in the U.S. Air Force for two years as a commissioned officer in Europe and North Africa during the Korean War. He continued his service in the Air Force Reserve, eventually retiring as a Colonel. He returned to the University of Alabama for his juris doctor degree before taking several positions in both the state and federal governments. He served an unprecedented three governors as a legal advisor.
The American Inns of Court Foundation, America's oldest, largest and fastest growing mentoring organization, presents the Christensen Award annually. It is funded in part by an endowment established by LEXIS-NEXIS. Information about this event and gala banquet may be found at www.innsofcourt.org.
American Inns of Court
David P. Carey
Executive Director
703-684-3590
dcarey@innsofcourt.org 
