ABA - American Bar Association
08/01/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/01/2026 11:58
American Bar Association honors civil legal aid champion John M. Rosenberg with 2026 ABA Medal
August 01, 2026
American Bar Association honors civil legal aid champion John M. Rosenberg with 2026 ABA Medal
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John M. Rosenberg, executive director emeritus of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, was awarded the 2026 ABA Medal, the association's highest honor recognizing outstanding lifetime service in the law and jurisprudence, during the American Bar Association "Architects of Justice: Lawyers Advancing American Ideals 250th Anniversary Gala" on July 31 at the ABA Annual Conference in Chicago.
John M. Rosenberg (left) was presented with the 2026 ABA Medal by ABA President Michelle A. Behnke (right) during the association's Annual Conference.
American Bar Association photo
The gala, which celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and honored the legacy of the lawyers who helped build America and inspired countless movements for freedom and justice throughout the world, also featured nationally syndicated columnist George Will, the evening's keynote speaker. More than 500 lawyers, judges and other legal professionals attended the event.
"It is really quite miraculous [that] life allowed us to come to this country," said Rosenberg, a Holocaust survivor, describing his family's immigration to the United States from Germany and his matriculation at Duke University, where he joined the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, serving for three years in the U.S. Air Force, and later studying law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Throughout his career, Rosenberg, executive director emeritus of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD), has helped shape the civil legal aid field and expand meaningful access to justice for people and communities that often are left behind. Under his leadership, AppalReD Legal Aid became a national model for the field, combining impact litigation, policy work and community engagement to advance fairness and economic justice across eastern and south-central Kentucky and parts of Appalachia.
"I'm proud of the ABA. I'm proud of the Legal Services Corp. But probably I'm most proud of the fact that I'm a citizen of the United States of America," Rosenberg said, describing the impact his parents' citizenship journey during his childhood had on him. "I've never forgotten that they kept reminding us how important being a citizen of this country was.
"Today, there are millions of others who would like to have the experience of the Rosenbergs," he said. "So, help those immigrants all you can. Represent them where you can. And do what you can for them," he said.
"John's commitment to equal justice was forged early," said ABA President Michelle A. Behnke." His observation of American segregation while serving in the Air Force developed in him "an urgent commitment that justice systems either protect everyone or they protect no one," she said.
In his remarks, Will, a Pulitzer Prize recipient, said the legal profession today "is terribly important in maintaining the dynamism that has made America a success - the dynamism that has produced soaring standards of success, the dynamism that attracts people to want to come here and participate in it.
"It is a function of the legal profession to make sure the enemies of dynamism are defeated," Will said. "Dynamism, over time, makes us a nation that is the envy of the world."
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