2016 Family Law Lifetime Achievement Award
| Publication year | 2017 |
| Author | Sherry Peterson |
Sherry Peterson
At the 2016 State Bar Annual Meeting, FLEXCOM conferred its Family Law Lifetime Achievement Award on Commissioner Sue Alexander of Alameda County. What follows are remarks by Sherry Peterson upon giving the award, and Commissioner Alexander's comments upon receiving it.
The Family Law Lifetime Achievement Award is an award rarely given out. It is intended to honor and recognize distinguished long-term achievements and sustained substantial contributions to the substance or practice of family law in the State of California over a recipient's career or lifetime. It was a great honor for the Family Law Section of the State Bar of California to confer the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award to Commissioner Sue Alexander from Alameda County.
Commissioner Alexander exemplifies a lifetime of service to the practice of family law. Family law was not her first career choice, and we are profoundly grateful she changed her mind. After fourteen years of private practice and becoming certified in not only family law but also in estate planning, trusts, and probate, Commissioner Alexander was appointed to the bench in October of 1997. She was immediately assigned as a 1058 Commissioner to a program that did not then exist. Rolling up her shirt sleeves, she helped create Alameda County's first 1058 program. This program was then adopted by several other counties and ultimately included in the Elkins recommendation.
Commission Alexander is a member of numerous organizations contributing significantly to all of them, as well as teaching a variety of subjects at various colleges and family law organizations at all levels across the state. For over thirty years, she has redefined the term "stepping up to the plate" by consistently and substantially contributing her time and expertise to the improvement of family law on a variety of levels. Thank you, Commissioner Alexander, for everything.
By now you are probably tired of listening to speeches. So, I'll be relatively short.
I am extremely honored to get this recognition. When thinking about this award, I looked back at my career. What have I really done in my lifetime? I realized that the main thing was to take advantage of the opportunities I had.
I was one of those kids that thought everything was interesting. I was originally going to be a teacher. Then I thought computer programming would be good but in those...
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