Carmen Calzacorta, business lawyer and Chair of the Privately Held Businesses & Enterprises Group at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, has been selected by the Business Law ‎Section of the Oregon State Bar to receive the 2014 James B. ‎Castles Leadership Award, the highest recognition bestowed by the Business Law Section on ‎one of the Section’s members. The award was established in 1998 to recognize an Oregon ‎lawyer for excellence in the practice of business law, professionalism among fellow business ‎lawyers and outstanding community leadership.

“Jim Castles would have been proud to see the selection of Carmen as a recipient of the 2014 Award named in his honor. Carmen has a track record of being a trusted advisor to her clients, a long list of civic and professional involvement and achievement, respect of her peers for her integrity and professionalism and a reputation for excellence and innovation in her legal practice,” said Donald L. Krahmer, Jr., a corporate attorney with Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt and past recipient of the James B. Castles Leadership Award in 2002.

A native Oregonian, Ms. Calzacorta has dedicated her legal career to building a successful business practice ‎in Oregon, while serving as an advocate for her clients. She is a trusted corporate counsel to many of the region’s leading businesses. At the start of her legal career, she worked with another James B. Castles Leadership Award winner, Neva Campbell, a Schwabe partner. Since that time, Ms. Calzacorta has served as a mentor to attorneys at Schwabe as well as outside of the firm. She is active in the legal community, having previously served as Chair of the Oregon State Bar Business Law Section and on the Board of the Oregon Women Lawyers Association. She currently serves on the board of directors at Schwabe.

In addition, Ms. Calzacorta has devoted substantial time and personal resources advancing charitable and philanthropic causes for the betterment of the region and the state. She is ‎an active and often leading participant in numerous charitable and non-profit organizations, including currently serving as the President of the Board of Directors for SOLVE and on the Boards of Associated Oregon Industries and Friends of the Children, and also serves as co-chair of the Large Firm committee of the Campaign for Equal Justice.

The Business Law Section will present the ‎award to Ms. Calzacorta on November 7 at a noon luncheon during the Section’s annual meeting at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

History of the James B. Castles Leadership Award

The namesake of ‎the award, James B. Castles, began his career in private practice advising the founders of ‎Tektronix, Inc., subsequently becoming the founding General Counsel and a long-time director of ‎Tektronix, and also actively providing philanthropic support of Northwest organizations, including ‎through his service as a founding trustee of the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

Previous ‎recipients of the award include Oregon business attorneys Otto B. Frohnmayer, Henry H. Hewitt, ‎Brian Booth, Andrew J. Morrow, Jr., Donald L. Krahmer, Jr., Neva Campbell, Robert Art, ‎MardiLyn Saathoff, Ruth Beyer and Brent Bullock.