The Michigan State Bar Foundation has selected Judge Hilda Gage (posthumously) as the 2014 recipient of its highest honor, the Founders Award, which recognizes lawyers who exemplify professional excellence and outstanding community contributions.
The Michigan State Bar Foundation has also named two recipients (posthumously) for its 2014 Access to Justice Award which honors persons who have significantly advanced access to justice for the poor in Michigan: Michael C. Chielens and Holli Wallace.
All three awards will be presented on behalf of the foundation on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the State Bar Awards Banquet during the State Bar’s Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids.
“These award recipients represent the highest traditions of the legal profession through their dedication to their profession, their community and to access to justice,” said foundation President Margaret Nichols.
Gage retired from the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2006.
She was a leader for many years in the Fellows of the Michigan State Bar Foundation.
Gage also served on the boards of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and was appointed to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines Commission.
She was also the first woman to chair the ABA’s National Conference of State Trial Judges, to serve as president of the Michigan Judges Association and to chair the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
In 1991, Gage received the State Bar’s highest honor, the Roberts P. Hudson Award.
After graduating from Wayne State University Law School, she spent four years in private practice before being appointed (and later reelected twice) to the Oakland County Circuit Court for which she was chief judge for two years. In 1997, she was appointed (and then reelected twice) to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Chielens was executive director of Legal Aid of Western Michigan for nearly two decades until his death in 2013.
Upon graduating from Wayne State University Law School in 1974, Chielens immersed himself in a poverty law, first serving as a staff attorney working on housing issues for a Florida legal aid program where his expertise earned him an appointment by the governor to a task force studying employment opportunities for public assistance recipients.
In 1983, he began working at Legal Aid of Western Michigan (LAWM), becoming its executive director in 1995.
During his leadership, LAWM’s pro bono program became among the most successful in the state, increasing financial contributions five-fold.
Chielens also served as chairman of the Legal Services Association of Michigan and was involved in various state access to justice efforts.
In addition, he was a member of the Kent County Foreclosure Response, Grand Rapids Vision to End Homelessness, Council of Neighborhood Associations Housing Coalition, Kent County Emergency Shelter Task Force, Grand Rapids Bar Association Board and its Pro Bono Committee, chair of the Fair Housing Center Board and member of the Board of the Legal
Assistance Center and of its Steering Committee.
Wallace, who died in 2013 at the age of 37, was dedicated to her vulnerable clients and to improving the justice system.
She served as legal services manager at Common Ground, a shelter and multi-purpose agency helping persons in crisis. She also worked as a Public Benefits Advocate at the Center for Civil Justice before briefly re-entering private practice.
Wallace served on the Justice Policy Initiative of the State Bar’s Committee on Justice Initiatives, examining policy issues that affect poor clients.
She also was a member of the Solutions on Self-Help Task Force, helping the group to coordinate and improve resources to people representing themselves in legal matters and specifically studying unbundled legal services and producing detailed research which the Michigan Legal Help program continues to use.
Wallace was a member of the Saginaw County Bar Association, where she served on the organization’s Pro Bono Committee and also volunteered at the Bar Association’s Free Legal Clinic.
She received her law degree from Michigan State University.
The foundation provides leadership and grants to improve access for all to the justice system, including support for civil legal aid to the poor, law-related education, and conflict resolution.
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