Charles R. English Spirit Award
Charlie English defended hundreds of clients during a legal career that spanned 33 years, beginning with a solo legal practice and a decade with the Office of the Public Defender. Mr. English was popular with judges and prosecutors but was a firm advocate of due process guarantees. Although he defended many celebrity clients, he remained humble and generous of spirit throughout his stellar career.
Our delegation knew him best as the perennial host, along with partners Gerry Chaleff and later Paul Catalano, of the Delegation’s hospitality suite, always the favorite among the hospitality suites, at every State Bar Conference through 1992. Despite the time and energy he devoted to manning the suite, Charlie always took his appointment as a Delegate very seriously, venturing often to the conference floor to vote, to negotiate with other delegations, and when it really counted, to speak for the Delegation.
In 1997, Mr. English and Mr. Chaleff were selected as co-recipients of the Spirit Award that was renamed in 1999 to honor his memory.
Charles R. English Spirit Award Recipients:
1995
Vince Monroe Townsend, Jr.
1995
Richard H. Keatinge
1996
John K. Van de Kamp
1997
Charles R. English
1997
Gerald L. Chaleff
1998
Matthew S. Rae, Jr.
1999
Honorable Margaret M. Morrow
2000
Paul Wyler
2001
John Carson
2002
Grace (Lee) Danziger
2003
Lawrence F. Liebenbaum
2004
Marc L. Sallus
2005
Herbert M. Barish
2006
Valerie J. Merritt
2007
Danette E. Meyers
2008
Helene J. Wasserman
2009
Honorable Matthew C. St. George, Jr.
2010
Mark Harvis
2011
Duncan W. Crabtree-Ireland
2012
Robin Bernstein-Lev
2013
Phyllis Kupferstein
2014
Lisa S. Berger
2015
Jo-Ann W. Grace
2016
Patricia Egan Daehnke
2017
Jeffrey W. Erdman
2018
Joel B. Douglas
2019
Nick K. Stewart-Oaten
2020-21 (No Recipient)
2022
Michael Fern
2023
Carolin K. Shining
2024
Michele Anderson
