WATERVILLE – Colby College will honor Ann Claire Williams of Chicago, United States circuit judge, by presenting her the second Morton A. Brody Distinguished Judicial Service award. Judge Williams will receive the award and an honorary doctor of laws degree before giving a lecture at 8 p.m. Monday, April 1, in Given Auditorium at Colby.

Colby College founded the award to recognize a federal or state judge demonstrating integrity, compassion, humility and judicial excellence. These are qualities the Honorable Morton Brody, a U.S. District Court judge in Maine, possessed before his death in March 2000.

After earning her law degree from Notre Dame University in 1975, Williams started her legal career as a law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

She served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago before becoming the first black woman appointed U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois, and one of the youngest selected to an Article III federal judgeship. In 1999, she became the first black appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

She also co-founded Minority Legal Education Resources, to instruct lawyers how to pass the Illinois bar exam.

The public is invited. For more information, contact Alicia MacLeay at 872-3220.