Trial News – Craig Sims Honored with WSAJ Carl Maxey Award
SGB attorney Craig Sims received the Washington State Association for Justice’s (WSAJ) Carl Maxey Award at the WSAJ Annual Convention, recognizing his sustained commitment to advancing diversity in the legal profession.
The award honors the legacy of Carl Maxey, a civil rights leader and trial lawyer who represented clients others would not and worked to make room in the profession for those who had none.
Craig took the stage to a standing ovation from a room full of WSAJ colleagues and delivered a deeply moving address about the role mentorship has played in his life and the pride he feels to carry that work forward.
Trial News invited SGB’s Diego Rondón Ichikawa to reflect on Craig’s commitment to inclusion and how Carl Maxey’s legacy lives on in his practice. In an article in this month’s Trial News, Diego writes from his perspective as a law student and now attorney working alongside Craig.
He recalls his first day of law school in 2010, when Craig spoke to Diego’s incoming class. The article traces how one principle runs through Craig’s career and life: “I’m preparing my children for the world, while preparing the world for my children.”
Diego highlights some of the ways Craig has put this principle into action:
- Opening the profession – A graduate of the Seattle University School of Law’s Academic Resource Center (ARC), Craig has welcomed incoming ARC classes and mentored countless law students and new lawyers.
- Building equity at SGB – Craig is a driving voice behind SGB’s DEIAB efforts, including firm-wide learning on unconscious bias and cultural competency and a commitment to hiring, retaining, and advancing attorneys from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Developing future leaders – Craig co-chairs the Washington Leadership Institute with Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans. The program develops underrepresented attorneys for leadership in the bar and the broader legal community.
Read Diego’s full Trial News article here.