For immediate release May 2009
Howard Martin receives Legal Professionalism Award
On Thursday, April 9, 2009, the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association announced that Howard W. Martin, Jr. of the law firm Crenshaw, Ware & Martin, P.L.C. has been selected as the recipient of the Association’s Eggleston–I’Anson Professionalism Award. The Eggleston–I’Anson Award honors select attorneys who have epitomized the highest standards of professionalism throughout their careers. Martin, who has practiced law in Norfolk for almost thirty-eight years, was recognized for his personal and professional qualities, including reputation and conduct, respect for the Rule of Law, treatment of clients and court personnel, pro bono legal services, and mentorship of younger attorneys. To date, only eleven other attorneys have received the award.Martin has practiced law with Crenshaw, Ware & Martin, P.L.C. since 1971, and he has “lived a life dedicated to family, clients, community and the bar,” according to Tim Coyle, CW&M Managing Partner and close friend. He has also served as President of the Virginia State Bar, governing body for all Virginia lawyers. At the unveiling ceremony, David W. Lannetti, President-Elect of the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association, read several quotes from letters describing Martin as “…always showing utmost respect for his colleagues, his staff, his clients, the judiciary, as well as the many individuals whose lives he has touched through his work in the community, [and as] a gentleman in the best sense of the word.”
Martin is the third attorney from his firm to receive the Eggleston–I’Anson Professionalism Award, giving Crenshaw, Ware & Martin, P.L.C an unprecedented number of attorneys from one law firm to have received the Bar Association’s most esteemed honor. Francis Crenshaw received the award in 1999 and Guilford Ware received it in 2003. “We are all so fortunate to belong to a firm with such great mentors and role models as Crenshaw, Ware and Martin,” Tim Coyle expressed on behalf of the entire firm. This event has “truly started a tradition within the Bar Association,” Lannetti remarked. There will be a formal ceremony at the Bar Association’s annual meeting in May, at which Martin will be presented with the award.
