October 2019 Newsletter
MEMBER NEWS
Judge Stephen M. McNamee, Beta Phi '69, receives UA Law School Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award.
University of Arizona Law Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are selected by Arizona Law faculty for their distinguished and exemplary careers, contributions to the legal profession, support for public causes and law reform, and commitment to the pursuit of justice.
Lifetime Achievement Awards Reception
Date: Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 / Time: 5:30 - 8 p.m.
Where: James E. Rogers College of Law, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Lobby
Who may attend: This event and free and open to all alumni, family and students. RSVP is requested.
Judge Stephen McNamee, Class of 1969
United States District Judge Stephen M. McNamee has had a prolonged and exemplary career as a federal prosecutor, federal district judge, and dedicated mentor for those entering the legal profession. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Arizona, he earned his Juris Doctor in 1969 from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.
Following a brief career in the private sector, he was appointed in 1971 as Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. Judge McNamee became Chief Assistant United States Attorney in 1981 and was appointed as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan.
During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, he helped develop a model program to assist victims and witnesses of federal crimes and prosecuting violent crimes against Native American children was a priority. He was a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and was honored in 1989 with the Attorney General’s National Crime Victims Award for this work. Judge McNamee was a leader in fostering binational collaboration of federal prosecutors and judges and their Mexican counterparts.
President George H.W. Bush appointed Judge McNamee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in 1990. He served as Chief Judge for the District of Arizona from 1999 to 2006, taking senior status in 2007. During his judicial tenure, Judge McNamee served on numerous national, circuit, and district committees, including the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council.
He was awarded the Mark Santana Law-Related Education Award in 2016 from the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education and the Judicial Civic Education Award in 2019 from the American Lawyers Alliance and the American Bar Association for his involvement since 1999 in the Arizona High School Mock Trial Program. Judge McNamee received the James A. Walsh Outstanding Jurist Award in 2006 from the Arizona State Bar, the Judge John M. Roll Award for Distinguished Service to the District of Arizona in 2016 from the U.S. District Court, and the Distinguished Citizen Award in 2009 from the University of Arizona Alumni Association. He was recognized in 2003 as a Distinguished Alumni of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati.
His activity with University of Arizona Law and his particular support of the judicial clerkship program at the College of Law has endured throughout his career. Judge McNamee takes great pride in mentoring students and offers them the benefits of his lifetime of extraordinary public service with genuine warmth and uncommon generosity. As a fitting tribute, the Stephen McNamee Scholarship Endowment for students at the College of Law was established in 2017.
https://law.arizona.edu/news/2019/10/2019-lifetime-achievement-awards
CHAPTER ETERNAL
Visit this site for a 40-minute video oral history of Brother Rosenblatt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBQ32WalDM8
Brother Paul G. Rosenblatt, ’58,’63, an acclaimed federal judge, a Significant Sig and a Hall of Honor member, entered the Chapter Eternal in October 2019 in his native hometown of Prescott. He was 91.
He attended Prescott schools and studied at Seattle University and the University of Washington, where he was initiated into Sigma Chi’s Upsilon chapter before attending the University of Arizona. where he earned his undergraduate degree in engineering, chemistry and English. Brother Rosenblatt graduated from the University of Arizona’s College of Law in 1963.
He served as an assistant attorney general for the State of Arizona, and then as the administrative assistant for the third Congressional District of Arizona in Washington, D.C. He was a delegate to the 1970 White House Conference on Children.
In 1971 he returned to private practice in Prescott until his appointment in 1973 as judge of the Superior Court for Yavapai County by Gov. Jack Williams. He was the presiding judge and the juvenile judge of that court. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the United States District Court.
Brother Rosenblatt has served in a host of professional and public positions including the Board of Visitors to the UA College of Law. He was a president of the Arizona Judges Association, judge of the Hopi Tribal Court of Appeals, and the Arizona Academy.
He also served as CLE faculty for the Arizona Supreme Court, as well as various judges’ conferences and workshops, state and federal, some under the auspices of the National College of Judiciary. Brother Rosenblatt served as a faculty member in both ALI-ABA and AJS-SJI courses of study. He was a chairman of the Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts of America, a past member of the Yavapai Symphony Association Board, the University of Arizona Alumni Board and the Yavapai Guidance Clinic Board.
Brother Rosenblatt was the Ninth Circuit’s District Court representative to the First National Conference on State-Federal Judicial Relations. He served on the Planning Committee for the Western Regional Conference on State Federal Judicial Relations and on the Ninth Circuit Education Committee. He also was chair of the Arbitration Committee for the District of Arizona, and was co-chair of Arizona State-Federal Judicial Council. He also sat on the Court Security Committee and on the Technology Committee.
A Life Loyal Sigma Chi, Brother Rosenblatt said when he was inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2003, “Sigma Chi Fraternity reinforced familial moral and ethical codes; the bonds of brotherhood and friendship served to nurture me and Sigma Chis everywhere. The inspiration provided by those seven young men who were so wise beyond their years, and who provided the standards by which we can all measure our lives, cannot be overstated.
“Certainly, in my life it has played a major role. From it came the friendships and the relationships, which are among the most important in my life, and upon which whatever I may have achieved is grounded. Sigma Chi Fraternity and the Beta Phi Chapter played an important role during a time when I was trying to decide the right path to take with my life, the path which would best satisfy my needs and desires. They provided a continuity that was critically important.”
All Honor to His Name.
