FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2018-The Idaho State Bar will present six awards to Treasure Valley attorneys and judges at the Fourth District Bar Annual Resolution Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 7. The meeting will be held at Barber Park Event Center, 4049 S. Eckert Rd. in Boise, beginning at Noon.

• Elam & Burke attorney William G. Dryden will receive the Professionalism Award. Mr. Dryden, a graduate of Willamette University College of Law, will be celebrating 40 years as an Idaho attorney in 2019. A Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, Mr. Dryden’s practice areas include commercial litigation, construction, insurance, labor & employment, product liability defense and professional errors & omissions. He is a member of the Idaho Association of Defense Counsel, the Defense Research Institute, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and Inns of Court #130.
• Former Idaho State Bar President Deborah A. Ferguson will receive the Professionalism Award. Ms. Ferguson is an accomplished litigator with 30 years of experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil cases. She is with Ferguson Durham, PLLC, focusing on civil rights and constitutional cases, environmental federal challenges, complex torts and property rights. Ms. Ferguson is the founding Chair of the Idaho Academy of Leadership for Lawyers and recipient of the Idaho Women Lawyer’s Kate Feltham Award, the Federal Bar Association Idaho Chapter’s Exemplary Service Award and the ACLU of Idaho’s Dave Judy Civil Rights Service Award. She was admitted into the Idaho State Bar in 2000 and is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
• Walter Sinclair will receive the Professionalism Award. He has served as a Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative to the U.S. District Court of Idaho, an officer for Idaho Legal History, Inc. and President of the Idaho Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Of Counsel with Holland & Hart, Mr. Sinclair’s trial work has an emphasis on business, corporate, insurance coverage, mass tort, real estate and securities litigation. He is a Fellow for the American Bar Association Foundation and the American College of Trial Lawyers. His volunteer service to his community includes leadership roles with Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Community Foundation, Learning Lab and American Heart Association. Mr. Sinclair is a University of Idaho College of Law and a member of its Law School Advisory Council. He has been practicing law in Idaho for 40 years.

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.

• Sean Breen, a University of Idaho College of Law graduate and partner in the Law Firm of Manweiler, Breen, Ball & Davis, PLLC, will receive the Denise O’Donnell Day Pro Bono Award. A military officer with a strong commitment to serving his country, Mr. Breen is a regular volunteer at the Idaho Trial Lawyer’s Association’s Street Law Clinic, which provides much needed legal assistance to the Boise Community. He was nominated for the award after donating 200 hours of his time representing an Iraqi refugee who is a domestic violence survivor in a contested divorce and custody case. Mr. Breen was admitted into the Idaho State Bar in 1993.
• Family law practitioner Cathy L. Naugle, Merris & Naugle, PLLC, will receive the Denise O’Donnell Day Pro Bono Award. Throughout her 38-year career as an Idaho attorney, Naugle has dedicated herself to providing free legal services to those unable to pay for representation. Most recently, Naugle, a former family law judge and University of Idaho College of Law graduate, donated 200 hours of her time on a custody modification case. The client was seeking a custody modification based on the opposing party’s willful neglect of the children, who suffered from various mental health conditions that required adherence to a medication schedule and close supervision.
• Lisa D. Nordstrom is legal counsel for Idaho Power Company. The Lewis & Clark Law School graduate volunteers for a variety of organizations that support children and law-related education. She serves on the Board of Family Advocates, Inc., the Fourth Judicial District’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program and as a volunteer attorney for CASA guardian ad litems. Ms. Nordstrom was admitted into the Idaho State Bar twenty years ago.

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 unable to pay for services.

• Idaho Court of Appeals Judge Jessica M. Lorello of Boise will receive an Idaho State Bar Service Award. Judge Lorello is the co-chair and founding member of Attorneys for Civic Education whose mission supports civic education programs including high school mock trial competitions, We the People, and Youth in Government. The immediate past vice-chairperson of the Idaho State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, Judge Lorello provided pro bono legal services for cases related to the Violence Against Women Act as a private attorney. She also volunteered at the Boise Senior Center free legal clinic.

Service Awards are given each year to lawyers and non-lawyers for exemplary service to the Idaho State Bar and/or Idaho Law Foundation.

• The Honorable L. Kevin Swain will be recognized by the Bar for his dedication and service as a Magistrate Judge in Ada County. Judge Swain retired earlier this year. A graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, Judge Swain was admitted into the Idaho State Bar in 1986.

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