Tim Hogan speaks at the University Club, Phoenix, Oct. 29, 2015.
Last week, an organization that does great legal work took a moment—as it does every year—to honor a lawyer for work that goes above and beyond.
Congratulations to the William E. Morris Institute for Justice for taking that moment on Thursday, October 29, to honor Tim Hogan, Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.
The event at the University Club was the Morris Institute’s annual Phoenix fundraiser, but it was also an opportunity to hear from some of our legal community’s smartest folks as they weighed in on Tim and his impressive legal career.
Among those who spoke was the Sierra Club’s Sandy Bahr, who recounted numerous times Hogan had collaborated with others on important litigation.
You probably couldn’t put it better than Bahr did as she said, “Tim is a friend to Arizona.”
Sandy Bahr, University Club, Phoenix, Oct. 29, 2015.
Paul Eckstein spoke warmly about Tim Hogan, “the legal polymath.” Eckstein said there’s hardly an area of law Hogan hasn’t touched, including education, finance, school funding, consumer protection, utility rates, environmental protection, the constitutionality of laws (I stopped writing after a while!).
Eckstein reminded attendees that “60 Minutes is in the waiting room” were once the words most feared by powerful people. Smiling, Eckstein said that dreaded sentence has been replaced by “Tim Hogan has just sued us.”
Paul Eckstein, University Club, Phoenix, Oct. 29, 2015.
When Hogan rose to offer his obligatory remarks, the typically taciturn attorney would have none of it. He reminded listeners that, “We’re all in this together, and we all contribute to each others’ successes.”
Virtually every lawsuit named that evening, Hogan said, was a collaboration between organizations and multiple lawyers. In particular, Hogan praised the Morris Institute’s Ellen Katz, who has advanced so many cases and causes in Arizona.
Hogan’s wry sense of humor was on display, though, when he admitted it was sometimes necessary for him to be absent from settlement discussions, as “Some other folks just self-incinerate when they see me.”
He also reminded the group that he routinely gives Ellen Katz a hard time for not charging for this annual event. (Her response, as always: a smile.)
The experienced Hogan used his remarks to tell attendees that they needed to contribute however they could, and to step up to help communities with little: “Next to English-language learners,” Hogan said, “poor people are probably those who are most despised at the Arizona Legislature.”
In the same week, Tim Hogan was inducted into the Maricopa County Bar Association Hall of Fame. Congratulations again to Tim and the many communities his work benefits.
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