HARRISBURG (Feb. 22, 2019) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Conference of County Bar Leaders (CCBL) has honored Elizabeth G. Simcox of Harrisburg with its 2019 Gilbert Nurick Award for her commitment to being an ambassador for the Dauphin County Bar Association (DCBA), the PBA and the legal profession. The award was presented during the 53rd Annual Seminar of the Conference of County Bar Leaders, Feb. 21 – 23, in State College.
The Gilbert Nurick Award, which is named for the late Harrisburg lawyer who served as PBA president, is given to a member of the PBA who exhibits dedication and service to the leadership and promotion of the organized bar and its activities.
After more than seven years of service, Simcox retired from her post as executive director of the DCBA in December 2018. During her time there, she networked extensively with other executive directors from local bar associations to learn about and integrate best practices to advance the DCBA. In addition, Simcox was a strong proponent of participating and being active in CCBL and has helped DCBA presidents and other incoming leaders appreciate its benefits.
Known for making DCBA members feel welcomed and included, Simcox consistently implemented innovative concepts and ideas which have helped to maintain the DCBA as a vibrant and successful bar association. She has also fostered excellent relations between the DCBA and the bench and has developed a strong rapport with many Pennsylvania judges. A prudent fiscal steward, she took the lead in seeking to identify and increase non-dues revenue and was integral in finding cost-saving measures regarding DCBA employee benefits.
With a long history of professional service to the legal profession, Simcox served as the associate director of development at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, the dean of students and director of externships at Widener Law Commonwealth in Harrisburg, and a coordinator of its bar prep programs where she developed the first for-credit bar program at her campus. She initially started at Widener in 1999 as a staff attorney for the Harrisburg Civil Law Clinic where she supervised law students in court appearances for low-income clients.
Simcox also spent many years as a practicing attorney. Following law school graduation, she worked as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office in Ohio, a co-director of the Dispute Resolution Clinic at the University of Toledo College of Law and a sole practitioner in the area of family law and juvenile mediation.
Simcox is a member of the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and American bar associations, as well as the Pennsylvania Association of Bar Executives. At the PBA, she serves as a Zone Three Delegate, and belongs to the Commission on Women in the Profession and Membership Engagement Blue Ribbon Panel. Simcox is a Board Member of the Howard and Libby Rosen Center for Healthy Families.
She received a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario in 1982 and a J.D. from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1988.
The Conference of County Bar Leaders, whose membership includes leaders from county bar associations throughout the state and from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, organizes a yearly educational conference focusing on the exchange of innovative bar association projects and ideas and on the development of mutually-beneficial relationships among bar leaders that improve the legal profession.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access of legal services; and serve the lawyer members of the state’s largest organized bar association.