Honorees recognized with awards at annual law alumni dinner

The Honorable Janice M. Holder

Justice Janice M. Holder, L’75, was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumna Award. She is a native of McDonald, Pennsylvania, and is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and a graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law where she was Recent Decisions Editor of the Duquesne Law Review. She served as a law clerk for Judge Herbert P. Sorg of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. After relocating to Memphis in 1979, she practiced law for ten years before her election to the Shelby County Circuit Court, Division II, in August 1990. She was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court by Governor Don Sundquist and began her service on December 13, 1996. 

While serving as a circuit court judge, Justice Holder began a pilot program in Shelby County, Tennessee, to introduce lawyers and their clients to the benefits of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. The program predated the adoption of the statewide rules governing alternative dispute resolution in Tennessee. After her appointment to the Tennessee Supreme Court, she served as its liaison to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission for more than seven years. In recognition of her work supporting mediation, she received the Grayfred Gray Public Service in Mediation Award from the Coalition for Mediation Awareness in Tennessee in 2008.

Justice Holder served on the Supreme Court for 18 years and was the Court’s first female chief justice. She led the Court through its Access to Justice Initiative and has presented Tennessee’s model to national and state conferences. In connection with her work in the access to justice arena, Memphis Area Legal Services awarded her the W. J. Michael Cody Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award, and the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services announced the creation of its Janice M. Holder Award to be conferred annually upon an individual who has made significant contributions to expanding access to justice in Tennessee. The Tennessee Bar Association awarded her its Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award for her work with Tennessee’s Lawyers Assistance Program and Access to Justice Commission and its William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award for her strong commitment to access to justice issues, civics education, and programs that help lawyers. In 1999, she was honored by the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs for her exceptional support of the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program. She received the Jurist of the Year Award from the Southeastern Region of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and in 2015, Sewanee, the University of the South, awarded her an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws. She was inducted into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame by the Tennessee Economic Council on Women in 2015.

In 2010, she was named a Legacy Laureate by the University of Pittsburgh and in 2012, received its 225th Anniversary Medallion in recognition of leadership and service to Tennessee’s legal community and for the mentoring of young people and young professionals. In 2015, she received the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award. Although she is not a graduate of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, she is a proud adoptee. In 2022, she received the law school’s Pillar of Excellence Award.

Following her retirement from the bench in September 2014, she has served as a mediator and arbitrator in cases filed in both state and federal courts. She is listed as a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 General Civil and Family Law Mediator and serves as a Member of the American Arbitration Association Roster of Arbitrators and Master Mediator Panel. She is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Tennessee Chapter. In 2019, the Memphis Business Journal named her to its Inaugural “Power 100.”                                  

Justice Holder is active in the community, continuing her work to expand access to justice in Tennessee. She also serves on the Metal Museum Board of Trustees and on the Board of Commissioners of Memphis Area Transit Authority. She holds a sixth degree Black Belt in the American Combative Arts System.

Senator Lindsey M. Williams

Senator Lindsey M. Williams, L’08, is the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award. Senator Williams represents the 38th Senatorial District in Allegheny County, which encompasses the 10th, 11th and 12th Wards of the City of Pittsburgh, the North Hills suburbs, and many of the communities along the Allegheny River Valley.

Senator Williams has spent her career fighting for working families. Following her graduation from Duquesne University School of Law, she took a position as the Director of Advocacy at the National Whistleblowers Center, where she worked to promote the passage of bipartisan legislation that protected whistleblowers for reporting waste, fraud, and abuse. However, when Senator Williams attempted to form a staff union with her coworkers to protect their rights, she was illegally terminated. She took her case to the National Labor Relations Board and, after two years of litigation, successfully resolved her claim. Following her illegal termination, Senator Williams went on to work for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers prior to her election to the Pennsylvania Senate in 2018.

Senator Williams was raised in a union household, and her parents stressed hard work and education through both words and actions. Her father Jack was a member of Operating Engineers Local 542 for 40 years. Her mother Nancy worked with a temporary service company when Lindsey and her sister Caitlyn were school-aged, and later took a job as an accounts receivable clerk at a local company. When Nancy’s job was eliminated and relocated to India, she was able to take advantage of education incentives with her unemployment benefits and finished her college degree in May 2014, more than 15 years after starting her education.

Senator Williams’ top priority is serving the constituents of the 38th District through offering one-on-one assistance in her District Office, hosting community events to connect residents with area services, and supporting local organizations and projects. She is also committed to fighting for family-sustaining, union jobs; fully funded education for all students; and access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Pennsylvanians. Senator Williams is honored to serve as the Minority Chair of the Senate Education Committee for the 2023-2024 legislative session, in addition to serving on the Transportation, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness, and Game & Fisheries Committees.

Dean Ronald R. Davenport

Dean Ronald R. Davenport was the recipient of the Dr. John E. Murray, Jr. Meritorious Service Award. At just 35 years old, Dean Davenport was one of the youngest law deans in the nation appointed at the time. Even more remarkable to outside observers, but fully in keeping with Duquesne’s historic commitment to diversity and inclusion, Dean Davenport was the first black dean of a major American law school in 1970. 

As Duquesne’s first black law professor, he arrived in 1963 with impressive credentials, including an undergraduate degree in economics from Penn State and law degrees from Temple and Yale. When he was at Yale, he earned the prestigious Francis Kellor Prize for a paper defending American military peacekeeping initiatives in the Congo. 

Dean Davenport went on to devote his efforts to the emerging civil rights movement, earning a respected reputation as an NAACP staff attorney and writing the brief in the first “Freedom Riders” case, Abernathy v. Alabama. In 1966, Dean Davenport led a group of lawyers and law students meeting with school superintendents on desegregation plans for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. 

At the law school, some of Dean Davenport’s priorities were a throwback to Duquesne’s early emphasis on ensuring access to legal education for all. Funding for scholarship aid was increased, leading to significant increases in the enrollment of women and students of color. The school’s national reputation improved; its graduates became more marketable locally and across the country. Dean Davenport was credited for engendering a contagious attitude of confidence among the student body that was reflected in the students’ success. For example, every one of the 185 members of the law school’s 1974 graduating class passed the Bar exam on the first sitting, making Duquesne the only law school in Pennsylvania with a 100% first-time pass rate that year.

After his time as dean at Duquesne, Dean Davenport became a partner at Buchanan Ingersoll and a fellow of the U.S. State Department, reviewing legal systems in South and East Asia. He also served as a consultant to the Constitutional Convention Preparatory Committee of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. In 2010, he received The Ronald H. Brown Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual who has shown exceptional leadership and achieved significant success in supporting diversity in the public or private sector.