The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability recently presented the Edward C. Mendrzycki Award to Heather Haratsis, ’25, during the Spring 2025 National Legal Malpractice Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Haratsis was a Janet D. Steiger Fellow for the state of Nebraska in 2024, online editor for the Nebraska Law Review, managing editor for the Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice, and president of the Community Legal Education Project.
“I’m honored to join the list of Mendrzycki Award winners who have gone on to have successful legal careers,” Haratsis said. After graduation, Haratsis, will begin her career as a law clerk for Judge Michael Pirtle on the Nebraska Court of Appeals.
The Edward C. Mendrzycki Award, sponsored by the law firm of Long & Levit, is a scholarly writing competition used to draw attention among law students and young lawyers to the practice area of lawyers’ professional liability and topics of interest within it. The annual writing competition incorporates situations involving legal ethics and professional responsibility matters that may arise in real-world situations. Participants prepare a legal memorandum addressing the issues raised in the hypothetical and compete for a $5,000 prize donated by the law firm. The award is named after Edward (Ed) Mendrzycki, who was an integral member of the standing committee and served as its chair from 2001 to 2004.
The ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability and the National Legal Malpractice Conferences focus on legal ethics and professional responsibility matters in the context of professional liability insurance.
