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Awards & Award Recipients

Awards & Award Recipients

Board of Governor Awards

The Distinguished Service Award honors an attorney for outstanding service to the membership of the Alaska Bar Association.

2023 Distinguished Service Award Recipient – Judge Niesje Steinkruger

The Professionalism Award recognizes an attorney who exemplifies the attributes of the true professional, whose conduct is always consistent with the highest standards of practice, and who displays appropriate courtesy and respect for clients and other attorneys. The Professionalism award has traditionally been presented to an attorney in the judicial district where the convention is being held.

2023 Professionalism Award Recipient – Michael O’Brien

The Robert K. Hickerson Public Service Award recognizes lifetime achievement for outstanding dedication and service in the State of Alaska in providing pro bono legal services or legal services to low-income or indigent persons.

2023 Robert K. Hickerson Public Service Award Recipient – Danielle Ryman

The Layperson Service Award honors a public member for distinguished service to the membership of the Alaska Bar Association.

2023 Layperson Service Award Recipient – Steven Reilly

2023 Honorary Bar Member Recipient – No award given

The Judge Nora Guinn Award is presented to a person who has made an extraordinary or sustained effort to assist Alaska’s rural residents, especially its Native population, overcome language and cultural barriers to obtaining justice through the legal system.

2023 Judge Nora Guinn Award Recipient – Magistrate Judge Jeffrey May

View a historical list of Board of Governors Awards

Bryan P. Timbers Pro Bono Awards

Pro Bono Awards: Alaska’s legal services providers – Alaska Pro Bono Program, Alaska Legal Services Corporation, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and the Pro Bono Asylum Project – select each year a private practitioner and a firm that has donated extraordinary time, resources, and talents to pro bono efforts in Alaska.

2023 Private Practitioner Award – Michael Mitchell

2023 Lifetime Achievement – Stoel Rives LLC

2023 Public Sector Award – Andrea Hattan

Court Community Outreach Award

View a historical list of the Court Community Outreach Awards.

Additional Awards

The Rabinowitz Public Service Award is given each year by the Board of Trustees of the Alaska Bar Foundation to the individual whose life work has demonstrated a commitment to public service in the State of Alaska. The Award is funded through generous gifts from the public in honor of the late Alaska Supreme Court Justice Jay Rabinowitz.

2023 Alaska Bar Foundation Jay Rabinowitz Public Service Award Recipient – Judge Stephanie Rhoades

2021 Anchorage Bar Association Ben Walters’ Award Recipient – Jon Katchen and Kathryn Brautigam

The International Law Section Human Rights Award recognizes an Alaska Bar member who has helped advance the field of human rights in international law, either locally or abroad.

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