Magistrate Judge Karen S. Crawford to Receive the 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit
15 Julio 2024 - 8:15AM
Business Wire
Karen S. Crawford has been selected to receive the prestigious
2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth
Circuit. A magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court of the
Southern District of California since 2012, Crawford became the
court’s presiding magistrate judge in April. She will receive the
award during the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in July.
Members of the Louis M. Welsh and Hon. J. Clifford Wallace
American Inns of Court nominated Crawford because of her long
commitment to the Inns of Court movement. “Judge Crawford’s
devotion to the American Inns of Court has been unparalleled in our
legal community,” writes William M. Low, president of the Welsh Inn
of Court and a partner at Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP in San
Diego. “When asked why she has remained so active over four
decades, she responds that she always learns something at every
meeting and wants others to gain from the experience as well.”
Crawford is the current president of the Wallace Inn and served
as president of the Welsh Inn from 2012 to 2017. She helped found
and served as president of what is now known as the Hay-Sell
Pittsburgh American Inn of Court in Pittsburgh and helped found
three additional Inns in Western Pennsylvania. At the national
level, Crawford served as trustee and board secretary of the
American Inns of Court Foundation from 1995 to 2000. In 1998, she
received the American Inns of Court’s A. Sherman Christensen Award
in recognition of her inspiring leadership and efforts to improve
the nation’s legal system.
As a magistrate judge, Crawford handles both civil and criminal
cases. She also participates in the Alternatives to Prison
Solutions diversion program, which allows certain defendants to
engage in a year of intensive court supervision as they define and
work toward achieving their goals, and upon successful completion
“graduate” without criminal records. From 2005 to 2012, Crawford
served as chair of litigation at Duane Morris LLP. In 2001, she
opened the first west coast office of Buchanan Ingersoll &
Rooney PC and served as managing partner. Earlier she worked in the
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and
for the U.S. Department of Justice. She was also national counsel
for an international latex glove company.
Crawford received her undergraduate degree from Boston
University in 1977. She earned her law degree from California
Western School of Law in 1980.
The American Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria,
Virginia, inspires the legal community to advance the rule of law
by achieving the highest level of professionalism through example,
education, and mentoring. The organization’s membership includes
nearly 30,000 federal, state, and local judges; lawyers; law
professors; and law students in more than 360 chapters nationwide.
More information is available at www.innsofcourt.org.
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American Inns of Court Contact: Cindy Dennis Awards &
Scholarships Coordinator (571) 319-4703 cdennis@innsofcourt.org