The Michigan Appellate Defender Commission honored Kristen Minear with the 2024 Amanda Smith Core Employee Award. This award recognizes excellence amongst core staff and is named after the 2021 recipient of the SADO Staff Award, Amanda Smith, who worked at SADO for 39 years before her retirement in 2022.

Kristen Minear joined SADO in 2012 as a paralegal and for the past ten years has served as our Administrative Office Case Coordinator. One job title could never cover the work and impact Kristen has on our office and our clients.

Kristen is excellent at her job. Every day, she provides all types of help and support to the entire office, often outside the scope of her own job description. In reviewing the many nominations for Kristen to receive this award, there was a common theme that “Kristen knows everything!” She was described as a “jack of all trades,” and knows how to fix everything and how to do everything. Kristen is a “friendly face” around the office and always willing to answer complicated questions. She “provides exceptional guidance while you are learning something new.”

Kristen is not only willing to answer questions and work with people to produce excellent outcomes for our clients, but she is also excited to learn new things and stay up-to-date on court rules and court procedures. She is an expert in SADO’s new case management system, and technology in general. As technology is rapidly changing for law offices across the country, SADO is lucky to have Kristen to keep us up-to-date and forward thinking in how SADO stores and reviews discovery, complies with e-briefing trends, and uses Applications that help keep our work efficient and excellent.

As described by staff, Kristen is “inclusive, professional, and supportive” and so deserving of the Amanda Smith Core Employee Award. 

Congratulations, Kristen, and thank you!

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