Sheila Gaddis, a partner at Hiscock & Barclay LLP and Chair of the firm's Diversity Committee, has received the The Daily Record's 2009 Nathaniel Award for her work at the Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County Inc. (VLSP) where she serves as executive director.
The Nathaniel Award is given annually to an individual or organization that "goes above and beyond the call of duty in the name of justice." Ms. Gaddis was selected through an anonymous vote by 11 Leaders in Law Award recipients and the newspaper. Members of the inaugural Leaders in Law class included law firm partners, litigators, in-house counsel and a judge who were nominated by colleagues and selected based on their achievements and dedications to the legal profession.
As a partner in Hiscock & Barclay's Healthcare & Human Services Practice Area, Ms. Gaddis concentrates in the areas of non-profit law and administration, and health care and human services. She also leads the firm's Diversity Program, works with several non-profit groups in the Rochester area and serves on half a dozen New York State Bar Association committees. She is also a town council member in Brighton.
Ms. Gaddis has also promoted diversity at a national level as a project consultant for the U.S. office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention and the U.S. Department of Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, and as a review panelist for the U.S. Administration for Children & Families, Basic Center Grant program.