Stratton awarded the Esther H. Brocker Award and Scholarship by Capital University Law School
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease is pleased to announce that Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office, has been awarded the Esther H. Brocker Award by Capital University Law School. This annual award is given to a distinguished individual who has advanced the status of women within the legal profession and more broadly within the Columbus community.
The Esther H. Brocker Award memorializes the outstanding accomplishments of the Law School’s first female graduate, Esther H. Brocker, class of 1926. After graduating, Brocker stayed in Lancaster and opened a successful private law practice, handling criminal cases and probate work. She served two terms as Lancaster’s city solicitor, and was elected vice president of the Fairfield County Bar Association in 1960. She worked as an attorney until age 83, and died in 1972 at age 88. She was honored posthumously as an inductee into the Law School Hall of Honor in 2012.
Stratton spent the first nine years of her legal career as a central Ohio trial lawyer. In 1988, she became the first woman elected judge of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. She was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court by Governor George Voinovich in 1996 and was elected by Ohio voters to three six-year terms. Stratton is also a dedicated public servant. While serving on the Ohio Supreme Court, she formed and chaired the Supreme Court of Ohio Advisory Committee on Mental Illness & the Courts. Currently, she serves with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine as co-chair of the Attorney General's Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Illness. Eve has also advocated for the development of veterans’ courts, which assist returning veterans with post traumatic stress and other issues that may lead them to criminal activity. In addition, she currently serves as president of the Ohio Military and Veterans Legal Assistance Program a non-profit which connects veterans and military families to a statewide system of referrals to pro bono lawyers, bar associations, legal aid and law school clinics.
Stratton received her J.D. from The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law. She earned her B.A. and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Akron. Stratton also has an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Capital University Law School and an Honorary Doctorate of Community Leadership from Franklin University.
About Vorys: Vorys was established in 1909 and currently has nearly 375 attorneys in seven offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Vorys currently ranks as one of the 200 largest law firms in the United States according to American Lawyer magazine.
