By Deborah J. Bruce

Photo Highlights

Since 1996 the Spotlight Awards have been given annually to five women who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession and who have helped light the way for other women. In 1998 the award was named to honor the late Mona Salyer Lambird, the first woman OBA president and one of the award’s first recipients. The award is sponsored by the OBA Women in Law Committee. Each year all previous winners nominate and select the current year’s recipients. A plaque bearing the names of all recipients hangs at the Oklahoma Bar Center in Oklahoma City. The 2007 award winners are:

RENEE DEMOSS is a shareholder and has practiced law at GableGotwals in Tulsa since 1984. Her practice is primarily in civil litigation, insurance, class action administration and professional liability. She has been an extremely active member of the Tulsa County Bar Association for 23 years having served as president, treasurer and vice president. She has chaired committees including CLE, membership and lawyer referral. She was the 1995 chair of Law Day Committee for which TCBA won an ABA Law Day Award. She was the recipient of TCBA President’s Award in 1993, 1999 and 2004. Ms. Demoss currently serves as Tulsa County Bar Foundation president and was the TCBF President’s Award recipient in 2004, 2005 and 2006. She has served on numerous OBA committees and is the current Oklahoma Bar Foundation president-elect. In 1994 she was named the GableGotwals Volunteer of the Year.

DONITA BOURNS DOUGLAS is director of OBA Educational Programs and has planned hundreds of CLE programs. Since becoming director, OBA/CLE has expanded to include online registration, Webcasts and online archived video/audio programming. She has made significant contributions to the OBA Women in Law Committee and is active in the Association of Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA). Her material, “Creating the Gold Standard for Speaker Presentations,” was included in “The Best of ACLEA." She is currently co-chair of the ACLEA special interest group that includes all state bar associations and Canadian provincial bar associations. She received the OBA President’s Award in 2003 and is a Fellow of the OBA/Young Lawyers Division. She served on the OBA committee that drafted the Supreme Court settlement conference procedure that is still in place today. She is an emeritus member of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Inn of Court.

MELANIE J. JESTER is a law clerk to U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Couch of the Western District. of Oklahoma. She previously worked at the law firm of Hartzog Conger & Cason in Oklahoma City where she had a broad litigation practice with concentration in the areas of business litigation, insurance defense and employment law. Ms. Jester has been an advocate for work life balance in the legal profession, and chairs the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Work Life Balance Committee. She has also served on the OBA’s Access to Justice, Law School and Women in Law Committees. She has been an active member of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, where she is a former member of the Board of Directors and currently serves on various committees. She is a master of the William J. Holloway Jr. American Inn of Court and has served on its executive board as program chair and treasurer.

LINDA G. SCOGGINS is a principal of the Oklahoma City law firm of Scoggins & Cross PLLC. She practices primarily in the areas of health law, employment law and litigation. She served four years as outside general counsel for the Oklahoma State Medical Association. She has been a speaker on employment and health law-related topics at numerous seminars including continuing education seminars sponsored by the Oklahoma Health Lawyers Association, Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma Hospital Association, Oklahoma County Bar Association, Oklahoma City University School of Law and numerous medical and employment management groups. Ms. Scoggins has served as president of the Planned Parenthood Board of Directors.

PHYLLIS L. ZIMMERMAN is a long time Tulsa attorney whose practice emphasis is adoptions. Few people have had such a significant impact on Oklahoma families as Phyllis. She has helped at least 2,500 couples adopt children during her 45 years of practice. She received a B.S. degree in business administration from the University of Tulsa, where she was named Outstanding Business Woman. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. She has served as chair of the OBA Real Property Section. She is a member of the Cherokee Tribe Bar Association, Tulsa Title & Probate Lawyers and Oklahoma Association of Women Lawyers, for which she served as president. She has served as a judge of the Oklahoma Court of Appeals, Temporary Division. She was named to the 2007 American Bar Register of Pre-eminent Lawyers and received the Outstanding Community Leadership award from Oklahoma Adoption coalition in 2003.