NEWS RELEASE

The National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue · Williamsburg, Virginia  23185

Contact:
Lorri Montgomery
Communications Manager
The National Center for State Courts
757.259.1525

 W. Wayne Withers inducted into The National Center
for State Courts’ Warren E. Burger Society

Williamsburg, Va. (Dec. 11, 2001) – The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently inducted W. Wayne Withers, senior vice president and general counsel of Emerson, into the Warren E. Burger Society.  The Burger Society honors individuals who have demonstrated the highest commitment to improving the administration of justice through extraordinary contributions of service and support to the National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Williamsburg, Va.

Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist and Chief Judge Annice Wagner of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, chair of The National Center’s Board of Directors and president of the Conference of Chief Justices, inducted the Burger Society’s new members during a recognition luncheon in Washington, D.C. This year’s induction ceremony held special meaning – it celebrated the induction of the Society’s 50th member and The National Center’s 30th anniversary. 

Mr. Withers has served on both the General Counsel and Lawyers Committees since the mid-1990s. He was instrumental in the development of The National Center’s Civil Justice Reform Initiative and has been an avid supporter of the NCSC’s annual Judicial Excellence Events.  Under his leadership, Emerson was recognized as a 25-year corporate contributor.  

Inductees to the society are selected by a committee, which is chaired by Texas attorney Charles M. Noteboom who commissioned the original portrait of Chief Justice Burger that hangs in The National Center’s headquarters. Each new Society member receives a limited edition print of the portrait, which is signed and numbered by the artist Fran Di Giacomo. Chief Burger’s children own the first two prints, and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist owns the last print, numbered 1986, the year Chief Justice Burger retired and Chief Justice Rehnquist took office. 

The National Center for State Courts, founded by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in 1971, is a non-profit organization headquartered in Williamsburg, Va. The National Center carries out its mission of reforming the court system and improving the administration of justice through its offices in Williamsburg, Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, which provide research, education and hands-on consulting services to the nation’s state courts.

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