Sally Ward Bloomfield ’69 Honored as College’s Distinguished Alumna
For Sally Ward Bloomfield ’69, practicing law is not her only calling. As a partner at Bricker & Eckler in Columbus in environmental, public utilities and energy law, Sally’s dedication extends not only to her clients, but to the community of legal professionals and the clients they serve. She is a past president of the Columbus Bar Association (CBA), the Columbus Bar Foundation (CBF) and the Ohio State Bar Foundation (OSBF).
As a volunteer with her husband, David Bloomfield ’69, at the Interfaith Clinic—which provides legal advice and service to about 50 to 60 clients on the first Thursday of every month—Sally knew firsthand the unmet legal needs of low-income residents of Columbus. As both a lawyer and a leader, she was in a position to do something about it.
Alex Laguch, executive director of CBA and nominator, explains, “Sally made the expansion of pro bono involvement the cornerstone of her Columbus Bar Association presidency. She organized and chaired the Pro Bono Task Force to identify the nature of the core needs of the poor in Franklin County and to determine what could be done to begin to meet their needs. By the time Sally completed her presidency, almost every major firm in the city was involved in providing pro bono legal services in housing and family law.” Sally continues to serve in a leadership role in the CBA’s Pro Bono Committee. In 2002, she received the CBA’s Distinguished Service Medal for her efforts.
Sally was a charter fellow of the Columbus Bar Foundation when her partner and then-Foundation President Gerald Draper opened up membership of the Foundation to all philanthropically-minded Central Ohio lawyers in 1985. She became a trustee in 1989, after initiating one of the Foundation’s longest operating programs, Community Mediation Services, which is now a United Way agency. She later became its president in 1994, and received its President’s Award in 2006.
Sally is also active in the state bar, as a member of the Council of Delegates for the Ohio State Bar Association, and as past president and a trustee of the Ohio State Bar Foundation. In 2001, the OSBA Section on Women in the Profession presented her with its Nettie Cronise Luttes Award, which recognizes women lawyers who have improved the legal profession through their own high level of professionalism and who have opened doors for other women and girls.
On receiving the Distinguished Alumna Award, Sally noted that, even though she was the only woman in her law school class, she always “felt included” by her classmates. Ohio State still has a place in her heart, as evidenced by her commitment to both college and university. She has been a member of the college’s Alumni National Council for nearly twenty-five years, serving as its chair from 2004 to 2006. She is a member of the Ohio State University Alumni Advisory Council and its Steering Committee, and is a past member of the OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors. In recognition of this and her many other accomplishments, the OSU Alumni Association gave Sally its Citizenship Award in 1996.
Even with her involvement in the legal profession and Ohio State, Sally remains committed to improving the community as a whole. She is active in the YWCA Endowment Trust as its secretary, the Columbus Law Library Association, the Public Utilities Commission Nominating Council, and the Rotary Club, among others.
We are pleased and proud to recognize Sally’s commitment to the
profession, to Ohio State, and to her community with the 2007-2008 Distinguished
Alumna Award.
