Douglas Pilawa, a third-year student at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, was selected as this year’s recipient of The Marvin and Sue Sicherman Excellence in Bankruptcy Award.
The annual award is given to one student from Case Western Reserve and one student from Cleveland State University who have “best demonstrated excellence in scholarship, attendance, performance and an aptitude for a career in bankruptcy and/or commercial law.”
The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association announced the honor at its Pat E. Morgenstern-Clarren Consumer Bankruptcy Institute Dec. 6. Since Pilawa was studying abroad during the event, his parents, Dennis Pilawa and Kim Brennan, accepted the award on his behalf.
In addition, Pilawa will be honored as the Sicherman award winner during the 2019 commencement awards ceremony and featured in the annual commencement booklet.
Pilawa earned the award for his classwork in bankruptcy in spring 2018, which he took with the award’s namesake, Marvin Sicherman—an adjunct faculty member at Case Western Reserve who teaches the elective each year. Sicherman has been practicing bankruptcy for over 50 years—once arguing bankruptcy matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.