Fifth annual event honors Idaho law leaders

About 250 people attended Idaho Business Review’s fifth Leaders in Law event Nov. 16 to honor 21 law professionals. Nominated by their colleagues, reviewed by their peers (past honorees), and, ultimately, chosen by their own community, they represent “the best of the best.”

To date, including this year’s award winners, Idaho Business Review has honored nearly 100 bastions of the law in our state, including five who have merited the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award: Donald L. Burnett, Jr., the former interim president of the University of Idaho; Lawrence G. Wasden, Idaho Attorney General; Scott D. Hess, Of Counsel for Holland and Hart LLP; Linda Copple Trout, former Idaho Supreme Court justice; and for 2017, Candy Wagahoff Dale, United States Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the District of Idaho.

After receiving one of two thunderous standing ovations – the second one came at the end of her speech – Dale took a few moments to reflect on her illustrious career, noting that she intends to keep working. “Maybe they should have called it the mid-lifetime achievement award,” she said, quoting one of her clerks, then added, “maybe the three-quarters lifetime achievement award.” She said that in her current role on the bench, she feels that she is “an advocate for the process and the independence and the impartiality of the judiciary,” a role that can be at times “incredibly overwhelming … every decision we make has an impact on a life, on many lives, and sometimes the entire country or the entire world.”

Dale talked about the magnitude of presiding over a naturalization ceremony – “just think of the phenomenon of being able to tell somebody they are a citizen of the United States of America – that’s one of the most enjoyable parts of my job.”