Champion, White-Coleman receive 2024 Purcell Professionalism Award
For their exceptional professionalism as Missouri lawyers, Debbie S. Champion and Dorothy L. White-Coleman will receive this year’s Purcell Professionalism Award.
Named after former Missouri Bar President Martin J. Purcell, the Purcell Professionalism Award recognizes Missouri lawyers who have shown a high standard of competency, integrity, and civility in professional and civic activities. The Missouri Bar Board of Governors and The Missouri Bar Foundation Board of Trustees nominate lawyers, and the board of trustees selects one or two award winners.
Champion and White-Coleman will receive their award on Sept. 18 in St. Louis during the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar and Judicial Conference.
Champion
Champion is a founding partner of Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch and Champion, where she focuses on a wide range of practice areas including various types of liability, personal injury, transportation, and more.
Being a lawyer, specifically a trial lawyer, is “the most important job in our civilization,” Champion said.
“Not only do lawyers play a vital role in upholding the rule of law, fighting for justice, and protecting individual rights, we hold the keys to justice,” she said. “As a result, we directly help make communities fair and equal.”
A graduate of Washington University School of Law, Champion is a member of The Missouri Bar, American College of Trial Attorneys, Lawyer's Association of St. Louis, Litigation Counsel of America, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Women's Lawyer's Association, American Board of Trial Advocates, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers, and the Theodore McMillian Inns of Court.
“I am proud to be part of those groups because each of them stresses the importance of professionalism in our career,” she said. “Each of those organizations was built on the idea that we should help not just our clients, but each other.”
Along with being a member of several legal organizations, Champion has volunteered with numerous legal and community organizations, as well as served on countless boards. Champion has also received many accolades over the years, including The Missouri Bar’s Pro Bono Publico Award – now known as the bar’s Pro Bono Award.
Champion’s No. 1 piece of advice to lawyers: “Develop a good relationship with failure!”
“You will never learn when you win,” she added. “If you win, you think you did everything right, and that is never true in the law practice. Ask people to watch and advise what you ‘failed at,’ even in a win.”
White-Coleman
A graduate of the Saint Louis University School of Law, White-Coleman is manager of White Coleman & Associates, LLC, where she practices business and commercial litigation, corporate and business law, tort litigation, and more. She has been a partner at White, Ovletrea & Watson, L.C., and Peoples, Hale & Coleman, as well as an associate at Husch & Eppenberger.
White-Coleman has served as the chair of the Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri since 2016 and has been a committee member for over 16 years. She has also served on several other Supreme Court of Missouri commissions and committees, as well as The Missouri Bar Foundation Board of Trustees and The Missouri Bar Civil Practice and Procedure Committee.
“We are a diverse profession and we are all a part of the whole,” White-Coleman said. “It takes the perspectives, talents, energy and intellect of us all to ensure that we have the kind of profession that we all desire.”
She has received numerous awards, including The Missouri Bar President’s Award, for her commitment to helping even better serve her clients and community.
“In my view, when we serve our clients well and render service to our profession and the community, we help to contribute to the betterment of our great profession and society as a whole by ensuring that justice is served.”
Click here to learn more about annual awards presented by The Missouri Bar, the Missouri Bar Foundation, and other entities. Read about other 2024 award winners here.