Williamsburg, Va. (Nov. 16, 2009) — William C. Vickrey, Administrative Director of the California Courts, will be inducted into the National Center for State Courts’ Warren E. Burger Society during NCSC’s Annual Recognition Luncheon on Friday, Nov. 20. The luncheon, which will be held at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington, D.C., will be hosted by Utah’s Chief Justice Christine M. Durham, chair of NCSC’s Board of Directors.
The Warren E. Burger Society honors individuals who have volunteered their time, talent, and support to the National Center in exceptional ways. It is named for the former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who helped found the NCSC in 1971.
As administrative director of the California courts since 1992, Vickrey also is executive director of the California Administrative Office of the Courts and secretary to the Judicial Council of California, the policymaking body for the state’s courts. Prior to assuming the administrative helm of the largest state court system in the nation, Vickrey was the administrator of the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts for seven years, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections from 1983-85, and director of the Utah State Division of Youth Corrections for three years.
Vickery has demonstrated his commitment to improving the administration of justice at the national level through his many volunteer activities, including his service on the National Center’s Board of Directors from 1996-2000 and his leadership as president of the Conference of State Court Administrators and vice-chair of NCSC’s board from 1998-99. He serves or has served on a number of high-profile national committees addressing 21st-century challenges for the courts, including the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Executive Sessions for State Court Leaders, and the National Performance Management Advisory Commission. He also has received numerous awards recognizing his contributions to the judiciary, including the Leadership Award from the National Association of Drug Court Professionals in 2006, the Judicial Council of California’s Distinguished Service Award in 1999, and the National Center’s Warren E. Burger Award in 1995.
Burger Society inductees are selected by a committee chaired by Texas attorney Charles M. Noteboom, who commissioned a portrait of Chief Justice Burger that hangs in the National Center’s headquarters in Williamsburg, Va. Each inductee receives a limited edition of that portrait, which is signed and numbered by the artist, Fran Di Giacomo.
There are 1,986 prints of the portrait, the first two of which are owned by the Chief Justice’s children and the last of which was owned by the late U.S. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who took his oath from the retiring Chief Justice Burger in 1986.
National Center for State Courts, 300 Newport Avenue, Williamsburg, VA 23185-4147