Williams has also given significantly to the law profession. He has
been active in the North Dakota Association for Justice, having
served on the board for multiple terms and was elected president
in 2004-2005. He also served on the Joint Committee on Attorney
Standards, the North Dakota Bar Foundation, and the board of the
Ronald N. Davies Inns of Court.
He has a distinguished history of service to SBAND and has served
his entire professional career on many of SBAND’s committees. He
served on the Board of Governors from 2004 to 2011 in the role of
president-elect, president, past president, and secretary-treasurer.
Williams has also been active in numerous community activities,
spending years coaching youth sports, and served on several boards
and committees, including the Metro Area Tournament Committee,
Minnesota State University Paralegal Advisory Board, NDSCS
Alumni Letter Winners Board, ARC of North Dakota/Upper Valley
ARC, and the Hope Lutheran Church Health Council.
Liberty Bell Award
The Liberty Bell Award recognizes individuals or organizations
who promote understanding of our form of government, encourage
greater respect for law and the courts, and stimulate a deeper sense of
responsibility on the part of citizens regarding their duties as well as
their rights.
Mike Jacobs, the 2020 Liberty Bell Award
recipient, has been a North Dakotan all of
his life and a journalist almost as long. Born
in Mountrail County in 1947, Jacobs began
publishing The Jacobs Journal, which covered
meetings of the Idaho Mutual Telephone
Cooperative, which occurred in the farmhouse
kitchen, and the death of kittens stepped on
by cows in the dairy barn.
As a freshman at the University of North Dakota (UND), he joined
the staff of the Dakota Student and during summer breaks, he worked
for the Mountrail County Promotor and at The Forum in Fargo. He was
the student's editor in the turbulent academic year of 1967-68. Upon
graduation, in Dec. 1970, Jacobs joined the staff of the Dickinson
Press. Later, he worked for the North Dakota Union Farmer and the
Mandan Pioneer before starting his own “sporadical,” The Onlooker,
which had a four-year run.
On the rebound, Jacobs joined the staff of the Grand Forks Herald,
first as the Capitol correspondent and later as editorial writer, city
editor, managing editor, editor in chief, and editor and publisher.
While he was editor, the Herald staff won the Pulitzer Prize for
public service for continuing publication during the Red River Flood
of 1997. Jacobs was named editor of the year by the National Press
Foundation and won an award for best editorials from the American
Society of Newspaper Editors. After he retired in 2014, Jacobs was
named to the North Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame.
He has served on a number of boards, including the session of
Gilby Presbyterian Church, the North Dakota Affiliate of the
American Diabetes Association, the International Peace Garden, the
North Dakota Newspaper Association and its foundation, and the
American Society of Newspaper Editors. He's also been active in
Rotary International and the UND Alumni Association.
Gerald W. VandeWalle Medal
The Gerald W. VandeWalle Medal was created by the Board of
Governors in 2017 to recognize individuals for their significant
dedication and contributions to the administration of justice or the
improvement of the judicial system. The award, which need not
be given every year, honors an individual or individuals who bring
credit to the State of North Dakota and its judicial system or to
the administration of justice in North Dakota or the United States.
The recipient need not be an attorney but should be a current or
former resident of the State of North Dakota. The president of the
association consults with the Chief Justice or members of the judicial
branch to identify worthy recipients of this award.
The recipient of the 2020 Gerald W.
VandeWalle Medal is Penny Miller, who
recently retired as Clerk of the North Dakota
Supreme Court, a position she held since
July 1, 1992. She was the fourth person to
serve as Supreme Court Clerk in the state.
Following graduation from the University of North Dakota (UND)
School of Law, Miller worked for SBAND as communications
director. She was hired as Chief Deputy Clerk in 1988. In addition
to serving as Clerk of the Supreme Court, Miller served as secretarytreasurer
of the North Dakota State Board of Law Examiners,
secretary of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court, and as
a member of the Judicial Conference and the State Canvassing
Board. Miller also served on a number of ad hoc committees
concerning personnel, lawyer admission and regulation, technology,
and improvement of the judicial system. She served in executive
positions with the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks
and the Council of Bar Admissions Administrators. In 2001-2002,
Miller was elected president of the National Conference of Appellate
Court Clerks. In 2004, she was awarded the J.O. Sentell Award, the
highest recognition given by the organization. In 2008-2009, Miller
served as chair of the Council of Bar Admissions Administrators. In
2012, that organization recognized her as outstanding bar admissions
administrator. She also served on the National Center for State
Courts Consulting Advisory Committee.
In her award nomination, it was noted “every practicing lawyer in
North Dakota knows and respects Penny Miller. For decades she led
a very capable staff in the operation of her essential office. She was
literally the go-to person for questions of filing, answering questions
of length, size and font of briefs, and she even entertained a periodic
appealability quiz from North Dakota lawyers.”
SUMMER 2020 17