It is called the Lifetime Achievement Award. Some observers might take this to mean that the honoree has concluded a lifetime of doing very good things, and is now ready to sit back in contented repose. That is not what is going on here. We still expect a lot more of Michael Cooper, we really do.

He is responsible for this state of affairs, for unfailingly stepping up for the Good Cause, and so we have come to expect it of him. Wisely, the New York Law Journal has based the award on one’s “impact on the legal community and the practice of law.” The standard is not what the honoree has done to win fame, but what the honoree has done for others: the legal community and, in turn, the larger community.