February 14, 2008
UW lawyers win Attorney General’s top award
Office’s highest performance award, the 2007 Excellence Award, for their work in international law
and public records, and compliance and health care law, respectively. UW assistant attorney general Dina
Yunker Frank earned an Excellence Award in 2006.
The Washington Attorney General’s Office has honored Lori Oliver and Bill Nicholson, UW assistant attorneys general, with its highest performance recognition — the 2007 Excellence Award.
The office gives excellence awards to only a small fraction of its employees each year. They are reserved for individuals who demonstrate a level of quality that is truly remarkable, add extraordinary value to the agency, perform effectively under exceptional circumstances, have a continual positive effect on the work group and are recognized by peers, managers, team members, and others as extraordinary. Award winners must also exercise exceptional initiative and tenacity, and exhibit the highest ethics and inspire others to do the same.
“The UW is fortunate because two UW attorneys general received this year’s Excellence Award,” said Jack Johnson, chief of the UW Division of the Attorney General’s Office, in a statement. Johnson also noted that Lori Oliver received the Excellence Award for her mastery and practice of health care law for UW Medicine in 2007.
“Lori’s client assessments were uniformly rated at the ‘top of the chart’ in 2007 because she pushed herself to master more of the complex world of health care law, as well as the business and internal dynamics of UW Medicine.
“Through direct advice and through her support of the Enterprise Risk Management project, Lori helped UW Medicine and the institution at large to grapple with daunting, but critical, compliance issues, in which she often served as an indispensable conduit and translator of information,” Johnson said.
Bill Nicholson was honored for his work in providing legal support for the UW’s international operations and for his expertise in public records issues.
“In 2007, Bill engaged and managed local counsel in far-off places and developed a sufficient grasp of the international legal and business issues to become a very productive, valuable asset to the UW in this emerging area,” Johnson said. “Moreover, when a senior attorney left the division, Bill agreed to become the office expert on export controls — that web of federal laws governing the international sharing of technology.
“Bill also devoted enormous effort to public records issues at the UW last year and served as a resource for attorneys throughout the office handling public records matters.”
