The singular honor, called the “Ritter Award,” is comparable to a lifetime achievement award. Wilberding was selected from more than 40,000 lawyers in Ohio.
Credit: James Davis
Credit: James Davis
Wilberding will be recognized at a Thursday gala at the Columbus Museum of Art.
“This is a very special award, so I was happily surprised and elated,” Wilberding said in an interview Monday.
Tom Lasley, chief executive of Learn to Earn Dayton, has known Wilberding for a long time, through common work on the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and in a number of other settings. Lasley considers him a friend.
“I think the way I would sum up Merle’s accomplishments is that he is someone who has been truly committed to this community and to the ideals that are so important to the growth of our area — that is, engaging with all different types of people and finding ways to maximize the common good,” Lasley said.
“Merle is someone who is selfless, and I’ve seen him give of himself in so many different ways,” he added.
During the Vietnam War, Wilberding served as an Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) captain, representing the Army in 800 appeals and arguing 100 cases, including the “My Lai Massacre” case, garnering immense public attention, the bar foundation said, with that latter case “becoming a flashpoint in the national debate about the moral and ethical challenges posed by the Vietnam War.”
Wilberding worked a full year on the My Lai case, in the midst of enormous public pressure, representing the Army, working to uphold the court martial conviction of Lt. William Calley Jr., who was found guilty of murdering 22 people. (Given a life sentence, Calley served three years under house arrest as President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence.)
It was a rewarding experience, Wilberding said, working on a case that students of history and military ethics continue to study.
“I was pleased with the opportunity to work on the brief and argue the case,” he said.
Another momentous case: In 2008, Wilberding worked with the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was murdered by her sexual assailant.
He knew Lauterbach’s family and was asked to work on the case primarily based on his experience as a military JAG officer.
He also worked with U.S. Rep. Mike Turner and the Lauterbach family, testifying to Congress to advocate for changes in military treatment of victims of sexual assault.
“We were successful with lots and lots of changes that we think significantly improved the plight of victims of sexual assault in the military,” Wilberding said. “We were able to put through legislation that entitled the victim of a sexual assault to legal representation.”
They were also able to help enact changes that made privileged any conversation a victim had with counselors.
Wilberding has also argued three cases before the Ohio Supreme Court. And he represented the Kettering Health system as it expanded over the years.
A video will be aired Thursday evening at the Columbus award gala, featuring interviews with Turner, former Gov. Bob Taft and Dayton artist Bing Davis.
Wilberding graduated from St. Mary’s University and earned his law degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law, the bar foundation noted.
He grew up on a farm in Iowa, in a family of nine.
Among the first in his family to attend college — neither of his parents went to high school — he received an MBA from the University of Dayton, a master of laws in taxation from George Washington University, and a master of library and information science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
As a young attorney in the early 1970s, Wilberding had multiple job offers from big city firms, including firms in Washington, D.C.
But the specter of protests against the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal turned his gaze to other possibilities.
“I thought I should be in the heartland, and I thought the Coolidge firm in Dayton was going to be a good opportunity to have a good practice of law in the Heartland,” he said.
“Merle Wilberding has devoted over 50 years to the practice of law, reflecting the highest levels of professionalism, integrity, and ethics,” Susan Elliott, professor and director of Zimmerman Law Library, University of Dayton School of Law, said in a release from the bar foundation. “He is deserving of this award for not only for his long and successful career as an attorney, but also for his extraordinary contributions to the military justice system, to the state and local bars, to the arts, to education, and to continuing efforts to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion within our system of justice and the community at large.”
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