Two attorneys from the Phoenix law firm of Osborn Maledon, P.A. have been elected to leadership positions in the American Judicature Society, an 88-year old national nonprofit organization devoted to improving the American justice system.

Larry Hammond has been elected to the Society's Executive Committee, and John Stookey has been elected to the Society's Board of Directors.

Both attorneys have criminal defense law practices in the 41-member law firm, and both have been active in justice reform efforts here and at a national level.

Hammond recently was honored by the Arizona Bar Foundation, which presented him with the Walter E. Craig Distinguished Service Award for "highest commitment to the principles and tradition of the legal profession and to the community in general."

Stookey, also an adjunct political science professor at Arizona State University, serves on the Arizona Capital Case Commission, a group appointed by Attorney General Janet Napolitano to evaluate the application of the death penalty in Arizona. Earlier this year, he received the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice Presidential Commendation.

The Two attorneys have played active roles in establishing and supporting the Justice Project, an Arizona program formed in 1998 to evaluate cases where justice may have gone awry.