MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (December 28, 2009) — Minnesota Lawyer, a weekly newspaper covering local news important to Minnesota’s legal community, has honored Robert Stein, of counsel to the Minneapolis-based law firm of Gray Plant Mooty and the Everett Fraser Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, with the publication’s Outstanding Service to the Profession Award.

Every year, Minnesota Lawyer gives the Outstanding Service to the Profession Award to five individuals who “year-in and year-out, over a lengthy period of time, work toward the betterment of the profession and those whom it serves.” Honorees are “pillars of the Minnesota legal community who have been models of service.”

Stein was honored this year “for taking on the presidency of the Uniform Law Commission and other leadership roles throughout his career, including serving as dean of the University of Minnesota Law School and as executive director of the American Bar Association.”

Stein has been of counsel to Gray Plant Mooty since 2006. He previously was of counsel to the firm from 1980 to 1994.

Earlier this year, Stein was elected president of the Uniform Law Commission, an organization of more than 350 practicing attorneys, judges, law professors, legislators, and other state officials—all lawyers—appointed by every state to draft and promote enactment of uniform laws designed to solve problems common to all the states.

Before rejoining Gray Plant Mooty and the University of Minnesota Law School in 2006, Stein was executive director and chief operating officer for the American Bar Association in Chicago. He was responsible for management of the world’s largest professional membership association, with more than 400,000 members and a 900-person staff. Prior to that, Stein was a faculty member of the University of Minnesota Law School from 1964 until 1994. He served as dean of the law school from 1979 to 1994, and was the first William S. Pattee Professor of Law from 1990 until 1994. Before becoming dean of the law school, Stein was vice president for administration and planning at the University of Minnesota from 1977 to 1979.