Missouri Bar honors several Mid-Missouri attorneys, organizations

Four Mid-Missouri attorneys, a local law firm and a charitable organization were honored during last month's Missouri Bar annual meeting in Columbia.

• Anthony L. "Tony" DeWitt, who practices at the Jefferson City office of Bartimus, Frickleton, Robertson & Gorny, P.C., received the Pro Bono Award, an annual honor given to individuals or law firms that have, within the past year, rendered outstanding pro bono (free) service to indigent or low-income people in need of legal assistance.

• Alan D. Pratzel, the state's chief disciplinary counsel, received the Missouri Bar Foundation's Purcell Professionalism Award for outstanding professionalism by consistently demonstrating an exceptional degree of competency, integrity and civility in both professional and civic activities.

• Past Bar President Harold A. "Skip" Walther, a principal in the firm of Walther, Antel, Stamper & Fischer, P.C., Columbia, received the President's Award for contributing significantly during the past year through participation in the Bar's work, value to the organization and leadership. The recognition was established by the Bar's Board of Governors in 1965, is awarded each year by the organization's current president.

• Jennifer K. Bukowsky, principal in The Bukowsky Law Firm, L.L.C., Columbia, received a Pro Bono Award from the Bar's Young Lawyers' Section. Recipients of this award are selected from those who have excelled in a number of ways, including: demonstrating a dedication to the development and delivery of legal services to the poor, through a pro bono program; contributing significant work toward developing innovative approaches to the delivery of volunteer legal services; participating in an activity that resulted in satisfying previously unmet needs, or in extending services to underserved segments of the population; and successfully litigating pro bono cases that favorably affected the provision of other services to the poor.

Also receiving the Young Lawyers' Section Pro Bono Award was Husch Blackwell, L.L.P., a Missouri-based international law firm with offices in Jefferson City, Springfield, Kansas City and St. Louis.

The Bar's Young Lawyers' Section gave its Liberty Bell Award to the Veterans United Foundation, a Columbia-based non-profit charitable organization that works to enhance the lives of veterans and military families. The award recognized the foundation's commitment to establishing a Veterans Court in the 13th Judicial Circuit serving Boone and Callaway counties.