Hon. Carol Corrigan's Presentation of Award to Priscilla Camp

We’re here to honor Priscilla Camp with this Lifetime Achievement Award. But I think we must honestly acknowledge that it is only an Interim Lifetime Achievement Award, because Priscilla is nowhere near being finished with her achievements. Still, even though she’s just getting started, we can agree that her accomplishments to date are inspiring.

She graduated from law school in 1977—in itself a remarkable achievement for a woman at that time. Then this person of passion and compassion turned her boundless energy and remarkable vision to serving those in need. Those who were often left out, overlooked, misunderstood. Those whose voice went unheard, the fearful and the fragile.

May people go through life in kind of a bubble. They see the world around them, but are sort of once removed. Not Priscilla. She has spent her career looking intently into faces, hearing with a compassionate heart, using her prodigious intellect to analyze a problem and her remarkable drive to address it.

Priscilla has a life-long habit of looking around herself and saying: “This isn’t fair. This isn’t working. What can I do to make it better?” As a result she is a founder, a pioneer and a prophet. She helped establish the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom; Women Lawyers of Alameda County – serving twice as its president and building it into a vibrant organization. Of course she served as Executive Director of Legal Assistance for Seniors and has also served on its Board. She was Secretary of California Women Lawyers, chaired the State Bar Legal Services Trust Fund Commission and chaired countless committees for the Alameda County Bar Association. She has also served as a Judge Pro Tempore of the Superior Court.

She lectures widely, publishes a regular column, and has been a contributing author of three books on Elder Law and Estate practice issues. She has been recognized four years in a row as one of Northern California’s Super Lawyers. She has been honored for her work with the State Bar Pro Bono Award and the Wiley Manuel Pro Bono Services Award.

When you talk to people about Priscilla they say the most wonderful things. They describe her as generous, tireless, possessed of a vibrant intellect. Deirdre O’Connell says: “She is an advocate without being an adversary. Whatever the opposite of cynical is – that’s Priscilla.”

One judge said: “Priscilla often brings hard cases. But, even as you struggle with them, you know you have, in her, a wise person in the room helping you achieve a humane and a just solution.”

Priscilla is a leader who brings diverse people together, inspires them, then shows them how to make a difference.

Anyone who knows Priscilla knows she is deeply spiritual. Several years ago this woman of faith undertook seminary studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, where she grapples with questions like “Suffering and the Human Person.” She is soon to earn her certificate in Theological Studies.

Her clients say this about her: “She touched my life.” “She changed my life.” “She saved my life.” And that is the true achievement of a lifetime: to enrich and ennoble the lives around you.

So Priscilla, today your friends and colleagues come together to honor you for your achievements – so far. But, more importantly, to thank you for the ways you have touched our lives; for challenging us, inspiring us, and mentoring us. For helping us see the world through you wise and compassionate eyes. For making us better people, just because we know you. And for being our friend.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Priscilla Camp.

—Carol A. Corrigan, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, October 23, 2009