Shumadine, J.D. '83, Receives Law School Associaton's Citizen-Lawyer Award
Anne B. Shumadine, J.D. '83, was honored with the Law School Association's 2011 Citizen-Lawyer Award during the Law School's graduation on May 15. The award, the Association's highest recognition, is given annually to a graduate or friend of the Law School who has made "a lifetime commitment to citizenship and leadership."
Association Board President Fernand A. Lavallee, J.D. '88, a partner at DLA Piper in Washington, DC, presented the award to Shumadine. He commended her as a business leader in Hampton Roads and as a "tireless advocate for education." She has, he said, "pressed her legal training into the service of others and in doing so has made her mark, one of a broad and lasting impact on our community."
Lavalee enumerated the leadership roles that Shumadine has played in many community and nonprofit organizations, including, for example, chair and past president of the ACCESS College Foundation; former rector of Old Dominion University's Board of Visitors; and trustee of the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Virginia Wesleyan College.
A graduate of Wellesley College, Shumadine served as an editor of the William and Mary Law Review during law school and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. She is the chairman of Signature Financial Management, Inc., in Virginia. In addition to her many civic endeavors, she has served on the Advisory Board of the William & Mary Tax Conference and as a trustee of the Marshall-Wythe Law School Foundation.
The concept of the citizen lawyer is rooted in Thomas Jefferson's original mission for the Law School that he created in 1779 at the College of William & Mary. Jefferson and the man he recruited to establish the school, his mentor George Wythe, wanted students not only to be skilled practitioners of the law, but also leaders for the common good of their communities, states and nation.