Seven individuals, sections and committees were recognized for distinguished service with awards the Utah State Bar presented at the organization's 62nd annual meeting.
Awards went to recipients selected on the basis of achievement, professional service to clients, the public, courts and the bar as well as exemplification of high standards of pro-fes-sion-al-ism.Judge of the Year was presented to Michael R. Murphy, currently 3rd District judge which serves Salt Lake City, Summit and Tooele counties. Prior to his appointment to the bench in 1986, he was an attorney with the law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook & McDonough. He is a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Civil Procedure and the Child Sexual Abuse Task Force.
Hardin A. Whitney, president of Moyle & Draper, a Salt Lake law firm, was recognized as Distinguished Lawyer of the Year. Whitney is chairman of the Utah Supreme Court's special task force on the management and regulation of the practice of law. He is co-founder, former chairman and emeritus member of the Friends of KUED-TV.
Distinguished Young Lawyer of the Year was awarded to Gordon K. Jensen, a private practice lawyer. For the bar's Young Lawyers section, where he was chairman of the Law-Related Education Committee, he has coordinated the People's Law program, Law School for Non-Lawyers, and the High School Guest Lecture program. He is a delegate to the American Bar Association National Convention.
The Ethics and Discipline Committee, with committee chairman Dale A. Kimball, received the Distinguished Section/Committee award. The committee is responsible for supervising screening panels. Screening panels, composed of attorneys and lay members who volunteer their time, resolve about two-thirds of all disciplinary cases brought before the bar.
A volunteer lay member of the Utah State Bar Screening Panel "B," Stanley B. Bonham was recognized with the bar's Distinguished Non-Lawyer Award for Service to the Profession. Bonham has served two three-year terms on the panel. Bonham is a retired farm equipment wholesaler and Arabian horse breeder.
Betsy L. Ross, assistant attorney general in the Governmental Affairs section, was awarded Distinguished Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year. She is chairman of the bar's Young Lawyers Section Pro Bono Committee where she has been instrumental in establishing the AIDS-related Pro Bono project and a domestic relations project for the Salt Lake County Bar.
The American Board of Trial Advocates presented its annual Utah Trial Lawyer of the Year award to Robert S. Campbell Jr., senior lawyer in the Salt Lake law firm of Campbell, Maack & Sessions. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Lawyers and has been elected a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Those with information for this column are invited to call Wil Grey, Douglas D. Palmer or Chuck Gates at the Deseret News, 237-2100.