Douglas Hickel Receives the Missouri Bar’s 2016 Solomon Civic Virtue Award

SCW Attorney Douglas Hickel recently received the Missouri Bar’s Warren H. Solomon Civic Virtue Award for his “exemplary service to the “We the People” program”, along with seven other attorneys. Previous winners of the award include former U.S. Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond and former U.S. Congressmen Kenny Hulshof and Ike Skelton.

From missourilawyershelp.org: Since 2001, The Missouri Bar Advisory Committee for Citizenship Education has annually presented the award to individuals who exemplify civic virtue and who have promoted civic virtue among Missouri’s teachers and students. Millie Aulbur, director of Citizenship Education for The Missouri Bar, said the honorees deserved the award for their long-term dedication to the program.

“These eight lawyers serve as judges for our state competition and they come prepared and committed to spending all day with the students,” Aulbur said. “I can depend on them in so many ways, including being a credit to the law profession. They validate the students’ and teachers’ hard work by challenging the competitors and by complimenting their efforts.”

Aulbur noted Hickel, Russell and Sowers also have served as judges at the national level and added that all eight lawyers initially were involved with the “We the People” program as members of the state bar’s Young Lawyers’ Section, which supports the program both financially and through volunteer hours. She applauded those who were no longer members of the Young Lawyers’ Section but continued to stay involved with the program.

When presented with the awards, several of the judges said they were surprised and humbled.

“It’s very much an honor and certainly something that was unexpected,” Russell said. “I don’t do this for honors like that; I do this because I enjoy it so much and I would not want to miss it.”
Hickel agreed.

“It’s a privilege. Hearing some of the names that have also won the award makes you feel pretty good, but I would come back every year without needing any sort of recognition,” Hickel said. “Hearing the students and seeing all the work that they put in – that’s reward enough.”

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