Press Release
July 24, 2014

National Bar Association Honors Holland & Knight Partners Charles Johnson and Kwamina Williford

MIAMI (July 24, 2014) – Holland & Knight is pleased to announce that two of its attorneys will be honored by the National Bar Association at its annual convention in Atlanta on July 26-Aug. 1. Atlanta partner Charles S. Johnson III will be inducted into the NBA's Hall of Fame and Washington partner Kwamina Williford will be among this year's recipients of the prestigious Trailblazers Under 40 Award.

In selecting Mr. Johnson for induction into the Hall of Fame, the NBA noted his "personal rich history of meeting the legal, social and personal needs of hundreds" during his more than 40 years of professional service. In addition to being a seasoned trial lawyer, he is a former president of the Gate City Bar Association and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and a former chair of the Georgia State Board of Bar Examiners, the Atlanta Judicial Commission and Leadership Atlanta. In the late 1970s, Mr. Johnson was instrumental in creating a judicial selection infrastructure within the Gate City Bar Association and helping to support the elevation of some of Georgia's first elected African-American judges. In 2013, he was honored with the Randolph Thrower Lifetime Achievement Award from the State Bar of Georgia.

Ms. Williford is one of 40 rising star attorneys under the age of 40 being honored for having "achieved prominence and distinction in their fields of endeavor . . . and who have demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing the goals and mission of the National Bar Association." A litigator who practices primarily in the area of compliance services and enforcement defense, she has the distinction of being the youngest African-American lawyer ever to become a partner at Holland & Knight. A leader within the NBA, she has served on the Judicial Selection Committee (2012-2013) and the executive committee of the Commercial Law Section (2012-2013). She also participates in the NBA's Corporate Leadership Forum and African-American Managing Partner Group.

Founded in 1925, the National Bar Association is the nation's oldest and largest national network of minority attorneys and judges. It represents approximately 20,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students and has more than 80 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and around the world.

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