Three LGBT lawyers have been named as recipients of The Legal Intelligencer’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Romulo L. Diaz Jr. of PECO Energy Company, Abbe F. Fletman of Flaster/Greenberg and Cletus P. Lyman of Lyman & Ash will receive the prestigious award for their work in helping shape the legal field in Pennsylvania. The trio will be joined by 19 other legal professionals presented with the honor.
Diaz received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. He serves on PECO’s Political Action Committee and on the boards of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation and the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority.
Fletman, who ran for an open seat on the Court of Common Pleas last year, has worked as a commercial litigator for Flaster/Greenberg since 2006. She earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and served as the first female co-chair of Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia.
Fletman has also served as co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Legal Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men Committee and helped launch the LGBT Litigator Committee of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section.
Fletman said her early career as a newspaper reporter influenced her to pursue a career in law.
“I wanted to be able to be a participant instead of just being an observer,” she said. “In law, you have the ability to help individual clients but also to affect policy and the system.”
She also said the career move challenged her intellectually and exposed her to a wealth of new industries and people.
Fletman said The Legal Intelligencer award was an honor, as was being considered among her fellow awardees.
“They are these lawyers who are among certainly the best lawyers in Philadelphia and people who have really contributed to not only the legal profession, but to our city and beyond,” she said.
Lyman founded Lyman & Ash in 1972 with Richard Ash. He served as one of the founding members of GALLOP with Fletman. He has been a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Bar Association for 22 years and a member of the Independence Business Alliance since 2006.
He is currently representing Nicole and Tamara Cucinotta, who are trying to get their Montgomery County marriage license recognized by the state.
Lyman, who received his degree from the University of Pennsylvania, said he was motivated to do good in any career path he chose.
“I saw law as a career opportunity where one could perhaps do good and reasonably well,” he said. “I met a lawyer named Richard Ash at around the time I was in law school. He opened my eyes to the possibility of making a difference by using my legal knowledge.”
The Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented May 29 and all recipients will be honored in The Legal Intelligencer this spring.