Cooley Law School 3L Denisa Alic presented with ABA Mendrzycki Award

April 23, 2026

Cooley Law School 3L Denisa Alic presented with ABA Mendrzycki Award

CHICAGO, April 23, 2026 - The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability today presented the Edward C. Mendrzycki Award to Denisa Alic during the Spring 2026 National Legal Malpractice Conference in Coral Gables, Florida.

Alic will earn her Juris Doctor from Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, at the end of April. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Alic is the daughter of Bosnian refugee parents whose resilience and perseverance shaped her commitment to service and justice. During law school, Alic served as president of the Environmental Law Society and as a senator in the Student Bar Association. She volunteered at expungement fairs throughout the Detroit area and remained active in community service efforts in her hometown. She plans to pursue a legal career focused on personal injury and civil litigation.

The Edward C. Mendrzycki Award, sponsored by the law firm of Long & Levit, is a scholarly writing competition used to draw attention among law students and young lawyers to the practice area of lawyers' professional liability and topics of interest within it. The annual writing competition incorporates situations involving legal ethics and professional responsibility matters that may arise in real-world situations. Participants prepare a legal memorandum addressing the issues raised in the hypothetical and compete for a $5,000 prize donated by the law firm. This year's hypothetical focused on cryptocurrency, the Securities Act and possible malpractice exposure a firm may face while dealing in certain transactions.

The award is named after Edward (Ed) Mendrzycki, who was an integral member of the standing committee and served as its chair from 2001 to 2004.

The ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability and the National Legal Malpractice Conferences focus on legal ethics and professional responsibility matters in the context of professional liability insurance.