Texas Bar Foundation Honors Chief Justice John T. Boyd Of Amarillo

by Alan Hunt

Chief Justice John T. Boyd of Amarillo, a former member of the Baylor University Board of Regents, has been named the recipient of the 2003 Samuel Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award from the Texas Bar Foundation.
Chief Justice Boyd, a 1950 Baylor law graduate, will be recognized Friday, June 13, at the annual Texas Bar Foundation Dinner in Houston. He currently serves as Chief Justice, Retired, with the Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo.
He has designated the Pessarra Award's $1,000 scholarship to a law school of his choice to his alma mater, Baylor University School of Law. The Samuel Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award honors an active federal or state judge who exhibits an exceptionally outstanding reputation for competency, efficiency, and integrity. The award is named for Samuel Pessarra, a native of Quintana, who attended Baylor University and Baylor University School of Law and was an active member of the Brazoria County Bar Association, where he served as president, director and secretary.
Chief Justice Boyd has served as the chair of the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas, chair of the Board of Directors of the Texas Center for the Judiciary and chair of the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. He was named Baylor Lawyer of the Year in 1995 and also received the Baylor University Alumni Association's Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award for an elected or appointed official who exemplifies "the spirit of selfless dedication to public service."
The State Bar of Texas created the Texas Bar Foundation as the charitable arm of the lawyers of Texas. Since 1965, the Foundation has given more than $6 million in grants to benefit the people of Texas. The Texas Bar Foundation elects one-third of one percent of the lawyers in Texas to become Fellows. Election is a mark of distinction and recognition of their contribution to the legal profession.