FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 7, 2018-The Idaho State Bar will present two awards to South-Central Idaho attorneys and will recognize one judge at the Fifth District Bar Annual Resolution Meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 8. The meeting will be held at Blue Lakes Country Club, 1940 Blue Lakes Grade in Twin Falls, beginning at 6:00 pm.

• Leon Smith of Twin Falls will receive the Professionalism Award. He will be celebrating 50 years as an Idaho attorney in 2019. The Washburn University graduate is a former Idaho legislator, former Idaho Transportation Board chairman, former mayor of Twin Falls and former prosecutor for Twin Falls County. Mr. Smith is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Twin Falls Chamber of Commerce, past Board President of YMCA Twin Falls and volunteer for the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands. He has mentored children in the Magic Valley’s Mentor Program designed for children with a parent in prison.

The Idaho State Bar Professionalism Awards are given to at least one attorney in each of Idaho’s seven judicial districts who has engaged in extraordinary activity in his or her community, in the state, or in the profession, which reflects the highest standards of professionalism.

• Former Ketchum Mayor Edward Simon will be receiving the Denise O’Donnell Day Pro Bono Award. He was nominated for his tireless legal work on a custody case involving a mother and five children. He ranks the case as his most rewarding and keeps a photograph of the family in his office to remind him of the experience. Mr. Simon graduated from New York University School of Law and has been admitted to practice law in Idaho for 40 years.

The Denise O’Donnell Day Pro Bono Awards are presented to the person(s) from each judicial district that have donated extraordinary time and effort to help clients who are unable to pay for services.

• The Honorable Thomas H. Borresen will be recognized by the Bar for his dedication and service as a Magistrate Judge in Jerome County. Judge Borresen retired earlier this year. A graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, Judge Borresen was admitted into the Idaho State Bar in 1975.

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