According to the ABA, the Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award is named in honor of Michael Franck, late director of the State Bar of Michigan and long-time champion of improvements in lawyer regulation in the public interest. From the time of his first major undertaking in the name of legal professionalism – serving as reporter to the ABA Clark Commission investigating the state of lawyer discipline in America – to his final years speaking on the floor of the ABA House of Delegates to promote improvements in the Model Code of Judicial Conduct and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Michael Franck’s work stood as a benchmark for turning intellectual honesty, compassion, and uncompromising ethics to every aspect of the practice of law.  Mr. Karp will receive the Michael Franck Award at the 36th National Conference on Professional Responsibility on June 3, 2010 in Seattle, WA. 

"Marv is truly one of Ohio's most highly respected attorneys,"   stated Kip Reader, the Firm's managing partner.  "He is a nationally known litigator with an incredible track record of success.   But his contributions go well beyond that.  Those who know him best understand and admire his extraordinary commitment to the practice of law, as a profession and not as a business.  In a career that exceeds 50 years, he has devoted himself to the promotion of the highest ethics and professionalism at the local, statewide, and national level.  He stands out as a true professional, whose enthusiasm, talent, energy, and dedication set a high standard for us all.  He is simply a class act.   As a Firm, we are proud of Marv and gratified at the honor bestowed upon him with the prestigious Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award.  There isn't a more deserving recipient."    

As a partner with Ulmer & Berne and Chair Emeritus of the Litigation Department, Mr. Karp has more than five decades of trial and appellate experience in business, corporate and insurance litigation.  His commitment to professional responsibility includes multi-year service on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility both as a member and as chair; advisor to the ABA Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct; chair of the ABA Senior Lawyers Division Ethics and Professionalism Committee; and three years as chair of the CPR/Section Officers Conference Joint Committee on Ethics and Professionalism.  He also served as a member of the ABA House of Delegates and chaired the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section and its Professionalism Committee.

Mr. Karp serves on the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism and has served on the Ohio Supreme Court Task Force on the Code of Judicial Conduct. At the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association he chaired the Special Committee on Professionalism, Ad Hoc Commission on ABA Proposed Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and the Professional Responsibility Committee and served as President.  He also chaired the Joint Project on Professionalism developed by four national defense organizations, the Defense Research Institute, the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys, the Federation of Insurance and Defense Counsel and the International Association of Defense Counsel.

Mr. Karp was the recipient of the Ohio State Bar Association’s highest honor, The Ohio Bar Medal (2007) and was the first recipient of the William K. Thomas Professionalism Award presented by the Cleveland Bar Association (2001).  He also received the Andrew M. Hecker Memorial Award for Professionalism from the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Section (1998).  He is a respected author of numerous articles and a speaker at national and international programs dealing with trial tactics, ethics, and professionalism.  He received both his J.D. and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale University.

Ulmer & Berne, established in 1908, is a full-service Midwest regional firm with 175 attorneys in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Chicago. Ulmer & Berne represents publicly traded and privately held companies, financial institutions, pharmaceutical and other life science companies, family businesses, international joint ventures and affiliations, institutional investors, venture and emerging businesses, public bodies and nonprofit organizations.  For more information, visit www.ulmer.com.

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