Criminal Justice Reform Advocate Samantha I.V. White Presented With the 2022 Root Stimson Award

Criminal Justice Reform Advocate Samantha I.V. White Presented With the 2022 Root Stimson Award

11.5.2022

By David Alexander

The New York State Bar Association honored Samantha I.V. White with the 2022 Root Stimson Award. White is an attorney with the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo who has worked on a bevy of issues advocating for criminal justice reform while revitalizing the city.

Sherry Levin Wallach, president of the New York State Bar Association, presented the award to White during Saturday’s House of Delegates Meeting at the Bar Center.

The award is bestowed annually to an NYSBA member who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to community and volunteer service and to the improvement of the justice system.

“It is an honor to present Samantha I.V. White with the 2022 Root Stimson Award. Samantha epitomizes the enormous impact our members can have,” Levin Wallach said. “Her passion and hard work have increased diversity, encouraged police reform, and inspired her colleagues and neighbors to give back to their communities.”

White chaired Western New York’s inaugural Empire State Legal Diversity Career Fair last August that attracted 37 employers and more than 120 law students from throughout the state. The event was an inspiring success that generated enough revenue to cover first-year expenses and make it a self-sustaining event going forward.

She also co-chaired the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York that in August of 2020 proposed impacting recommendations for policing reforms that yielded Buffalo’s Right to Know Law among the strongest in the state.

In addition, she stood with her fellow civic-minded citizens in the aftermath of the racially-motivated Tops Supermarket shooting in her neighborhood.

White’s ongoing selfless work extends to her commitment towards community beautification. She is the Director of the Gardens Buffalo Niagara Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the East Side Garden Walk Committee.

The award is named for Elihu Root and Henry Stimson and honors their commitment to public service. Root served in President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration as Secretary of State, received the Nobel Peace Prize and was a president of NYSBA.  Stimson was Secretary of War under Presidents William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. He also served as Secretary of State under President Herbert Hoover.