President's Award

This award, selected at the discretion of the State Bar President, is given to an individual who has contributed enormous effort toward the furtherance of the president's goals and priorities during the president's term in office.

2012 Recipients

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl is serving his third and final term in the U.S. Senate after previously serving for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected unanimously by his
colleagues in 2008 to serve as Republican Whip, the second-highest position in Senate Republican leadership.

Senator Kyl serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he has played key roles in the confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and of Samuel Alito as associate justice. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, he has also helped write the landmark Crime Victims Rights Act, as well as important provisions of the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and other anti-terrorism laws.

The Wall Street Journal wrote in February 2011 that Senator Kyl "has made his mark the old fashioned way - by knowing what he is talking about."

Before his public service, Kyl practiced law at Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix.

Kyl received both his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Arizona. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was editor-in-chief of the Arizona Law Review. He and his wife Caryll have two children, Kristine Kyl Gavin and John Kyl, and seven grandchildren.

Raised in a family of ten children, Alan P. Bayham Jr. grew up in the Valley of the Sun. He graduated from Brophy College Preparatory and went on to earn a B.A. in English from Arizona State University in 1973.

He soon decided to follow in his father's footsteps and became a lawyer. With a J.D. from ASU College of Law in 1976, Alan began to build what has become a successful civil litigation practice with an emphasis in personal injury. Today he is a partner in the AV-rated law firm of Bayham Jerman, PLC.

The father of seven children, Alan devotes part of his busy schedule to volunteer work outside the Bar. He is a Pop Warner Football Coach and has served as a high school football official with the Arizona Interscholastic Association. He has worked with both the ASU Law Alumni Board and the Brophy College Prep Alumni group.

Alan has served the legal profession in many capacities: Fee Arbitration Panel, Judge Pro Tem, Board of Legal Specialization, Awards Committee, Finance Committee, probable cause panelist, Committee on Compulsory Arbitration, Arizona Supreme Court Discipline Task Force, and the Board of Governors culminating with his presidency in 2010-11.

Previous Recipients   

The award has been presented to: