Awards Program

2025 WWCDA Awards Gala  

The Awards Gala will be held December 2, 2025. This spectacular event will be a fun evening of honoring those who have made an outstanding contribution to the profession while promoting equality in the white collar and compliance fields. See the 2024 highlights!

The WWCDA Awards Gala recognizes and honors leaders who have made exceptional contributions in the white collar and compliance profession while championing equality for all in the field.  A cornerstone of WWCDA's mission, the awards program spotlights individuals and teams whose impact inspires the global legal and compliance community and advances inclusiveness.  The WWCDA Awards Gala celebrates these accomplishments and provides a vital platform for elevating public awareness of professionals who have made a significant impact.  

Winning a WWCDA award is a lifetime distinction recognized across the profession and celebrated at this signature annual event, where excellence, progress, and the enduring strength of our global community take center stage. The gala draws distinguished professionals from across the white-collar defense and compliance bar, the legal field, and beyond. Colleagues, clients, and friends from around the world gather for an evening of recognition, inspiration, and meaningful connection.

The WWCDA Awards are presented annually at the WWCDA Awards Dinner Gala held in Washington, D.C. on the first Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving.  Previous Galas have featured three U.S. Attorneys General, former Solicitor General, former Chief of the DOJ Criminal Division, former Chair the SEC, former SEC Chief of Enforcement, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the CEO and GC of Goldman Sachs, Google's Chief Legal Officer, the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Salesforce, the NFL's General Counsel, Merck's General Counsel, Novartis General Counsel, the Chairs of several major law firms, NPR's Nina Totenberg, a tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a performance by Elton John’s keyboardist. The Gala has has also included WWCDA Chapter Roll Call with greetings from chapter members from around the world and recognition of WWCDA Trailblazers. 

Questions? Contact events@wwcda.org. 

Award Categories

WWCDA Champion Award

The WWCDA Champion Award is given to a man or woman who has made a profound impact or achieved significant success in the white collar field while advancing equal opportunity for all in the field. This award honors women and men from the private sector, government, and academia who have made a difference in the white collar area while promoting inclusiveness. We honor trailblazers and those who use their own platforms to help make the professional equal for all.  We applaud these great lawyers and other professionals as true champions for pursuing a successful path that advances both the white collar practice and equal opportunity in the field.

WWCDA Group Award

The WWCDA Group Award is an innovative award that honors outstanding team achievement in the white collar field while advancing equal opportunity for all. The winning team can be comprised of lawyers or other professionals who have collaborated on a project or projects that have an impact in the white collar field while highlighting and promoting inclusiveness.

This award can honor teams from companies, law firms, government, academia, nonprofits and other organizations. This award emphasizes the power of teamwork and the importance that work can have in white collar and promoting equal opportunity. 

WWCDA Catherine M. O’Neil Mentoring Award

In honor of the late Cathy O’Neil  this award is given to an aspiring junior member of WWCDA in honor of the late Catherine M. O’Neil, and in commemoration of Cathy's excellence, integrity, grit, and tenacity in her legal advocacy; her enthusiasm and optimism for life and the law; her boundless energy and creativity; her dedication to mentoring young lawyers; and her generous and tireless donation of her time and talents for the public good, including the WWCDA.  Cathy was the founding leader of the Atlanta Chapter of WWCDA and one of the forces behind the early growth of the global organization. 

This award will include a continuing education stipend of $2,500 that has been fully funded by the law firm of King & Spalding, where Cathy was a partner in its Special Matters and Investigations practice group. The stipend will be used to continue to develop the legal and leadership skills of the award recipient through, for example, trial advocacy courses, white collar conferences, executive coaching, or other leadership or management training sessions. 

A nominee for this award must be a junior member of WWCDA who is engaged in WWCDA activities and displays the potential to be a future leader of WWCDA, is a rising star in the white collar defense bar with up to 10 years of experience and embodies the spirit and characteristics that made Cathy O’Neil such a beloved friend, mentor, advocate, and leader in WWCDA, her firm and the wider legal establishment.

WWCDA Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Outstanding Law Student Award

In honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, WWCDA established the WWCDA Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Outstanding Law Student Award to be given to a student in the final year of legal education who best exemplifies the Justice’s commitment to excellence, perseverance, resilience, extraordinary work ethic, and/or tireless efforts to ensure justice for all.

The WWCDA Justice Ginsburg Student Award commemorates the Justice’s extraordinary life, her powerful advocacy, and her significant impact on American jurisprudence, particularly in the area of civil rights. She was a role model to all, and particularly to the younger generations. The Award celebrates those characteristics for which the Justice was best known, including her outstanding legal scholarship and expertise, her relentless optimism and commitment to social justice, her advocacy, and her tenacity and resilience in the face of obstacles (both personal and professional) to become one of the most effective and consequential lawyers and jurists in American history. The Award celebrates the Justice’s commitment to helping those who came after her to surmount similar obstacles in their own endeavors and to participate in the legal process and increase access to justice for all. Finally, the Award celebrates Justice Ginsburg’s ability to win the respect, loyalty, and even affection of others with whom she did not share the same background, gender, legal philosophies, or social views. Honoring Justice Ginsburg

Previous Winners

WWCDA Champion Award

1. The Honorable Valier E. Caproni '24
2. The Honorable Beryl A. Howell '23
3. Lisa O. Monaco '23
4. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson '22
5. Lisa Osofsky '22
6. Sally Yates '21
7. Loretta Lynch ‘20
8. Mary Jo White ‘19

WWCDA Laurie Miller Award

1. Joanelle O'Cleirigh '24
2. Wendy Wysong '24
3. Patricia Brown Holmes '23
4. Leslie Caldwell '22
5. Jamie Gorelick '21
6. Karen Patton Seymour ‘20
7. Joan McPhee ‘19
8. Karen Popp ‘18

WWCDA Group Award

1. GE '24
2. Microsoft '23
3. Novartis '22
4. Merck & Co., Inc. '21
5. Salesforce ‘20
6. Olympus Corporation of the Americas ‘19

WWCDA Cathy O’Neil Award

1. Paulette M. Pagán '24
2. Alyssa Hughes '23
3. Emily Agnoli '22
4. Jillian Trezza '21
5. Aviva Gilbert ‘20
6. Emily Ward ‘19
   
   

WWCDA Justice Ginsburg Award

1. Edith Leghorn '24
2. Swapanthi Mandalika '23
3. Nancy Eriksen, Stetson Law School '22 
4. Sara Wood, Tulane Law School '21

More Information

For more details about the Awards Program, the Gala, submitting a nomination, or being a Sponsor, please send an email to events@wwcda.org.

In honor of WWCDA and our mission, Elton John's keyboardist, Kim Bullard and his wife, Cece Bullard, wrote and performed a song for the 2020 WWCDA Awards Gala.  Entitled, "I'm With You," this song has become WWCDA's theme song.