The KBA Awards will be presented at the KBA Annual Meeting in Topeka, June 19-21. The Awards Committee, chaired by Anne Burke Miller, Manhattan, appreciates your help in bringing worthy nominees from throughout the state of Kansas to the committee's attention!
Phil Lewis Medal of Distinction
Distinguished Service Award
Professionalism Award
Outstanding Service Awards
Outstanding Young Lawyer
Pro Bono Award
Distinguished Government Service Award
Courageous Attorney Award
Honorary KBA Membership
Phil Lewis Medal of Distinction
The KBA’s Phil Lewis Medal of Distinction is reserved for individuals or organizations in Kansas who have performed outstanding and conspicuous service at the state, national, or international level in administration of justice, science, the arts, government, philosophy, law, or any other field offering relief or enrichment to others.
- The recipient need not be a member of the legal profession nor related to it, but the recipient’s service may include responsibility and honor within the legal profession.
- The award is only given in those years when it is determined that there is a worthy recipient.
View the past recipients of the Phil Lewis Medal of Distinction.
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Distinguished Service Award
This award recognizes an individual for continuous longstanding service on behalf of the legal profession or the public, rather than the successful accomplishment of a single task or service.
- The recipient must be a lawyer and must have made a significant contribution to the altruistic goals of the legal profession or the public.
- Only one Distinguished Service Award may be given in any one year. However, the award is given only in those years when it is determined that there is a worthy recipient.
View past recipients of the Distinguished Service Award.
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Professionalism Award
This award recognizes an individual who has practiced law for 10 or more years who, by his or her conduct, honesty, integrity, and courtesy, best exemplifies, represents, and encourages other lawyers to follow the highest standards of the legal profession as identified by the KBA Hallmarks of the Profession.
View past recipients of the Professionalism Award.
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Outstanding Service Awards
These awards are given for the purpose of recognizing lawyers and judges for service to the legal profession and/or the KBA and to recognize nonlawyers for especially meritorious deeds or service that significantly advance the administration of justice or the goals of the legal profession and/or the KBA.
No more than six Outstanding Service Awards may be given in any one year.
Recipients may be lawyers, law firms, judges, nonlawyers, groups of individuals, or organizations.
Outstanding Service Awards may recognize:
- Law-related projects involving significant contributions of time;
- Committee or section work for the KBA substantially exceeding that normally expected of a committee or section member;
- Work by a public official that significantly advances the goals of the legal profession or the KBA; and/or
- Service to the legal profession and the KBA over an extended period of time.
View past recipients of the Outstanding Service Awards.
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Outstanding Young Lawyer
This award recognizes the efforts of a KBA Young Lawyers Section member who has rendered meritorious service to the legal profession, the community, or the KBA.
View past recipients of the Outstanding Young Lawyer.
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Pro Bono Award
This award recognizes a lawyer or law firm for the delivery of direct legal services, free of charge, to the poor or, in appropriate instances, to charitable organizations whose primary purpose is to provide other services to the poor. In addition to the Pro Bono Award, the KBA awards a number of Pro Bono Certificates of Appreciation to lawyers who meet the following criteria:
- Lawyers who are not employed full time by an organization that has as its primary purpose the provision of free legal services to the poor;
- Lawyers who, with no expectation of receiving a fee, have provided direct delivery of legal services in civil or criminal matters to a client or client group that does not have the resources to employ compensated counsel;
- Lawyers who have made a voluntary contribution of a significant portion of time to providing legal services to the poor without charge; and/or
- Lawyers whose voluntary contributions have resulted in increased access to legal services on the part of low- and moderate-income persons.
View past recipients of the Pro Bono Award.
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Distinguished Government Service Award
This award recognizes a Kansas lawyer who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to government service. The recipient shall be a Kansas lawyer, preferably a member of the KBA, who has demonstrated accomplishments above and beyond those expected from persons engaged in similar government service. The award shall be given only in those years when it is determined that there is a recipient worthy of such award.
View past recipients of the Distinguished Government Service Award.
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Courageous Attorney Award
The KBA created a new award in 2000 to recognize a lawyer who has displayed exceptional courage in the face of adversity, thus bringing credit to the legal profession. Examples of recipients of this type of award in other jurisdictions include a small-town lawyer who defended a politically unpopular defendant and lost most of his livelihood for the next 20 years, an African-American criminal defense attorney who defended two members of the white supremacist movement, and a small-town judge who lost his position because he refused the town council’s request to meet monetary quotas on traffic offenses. This award will be given only in those years when it is determined that there is a worthy recipient.
View past recipients of the Courageous Attorney Award.
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Honorary KBA Membership
This honor is bestowed upon persons who have demonstrated lifelong dedication to the state's citizens, legal and judicial system, and the bar association.
View past recipients of the Honorary KBA Membership.
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