The Oklahoma Bar Journal September 2024

S potlight A ward W inners

2024 Mona Salyer Lambird Spotlight Award Winners Honored

S INCE 1996, SPOTLIGHT Awards have been given to five women every year who have dis tinguished themselves in the legal profession and have lit 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 Section. Each year, all previous winners nominate and select the current year’s recipients. A plaque bearing the names of all recipients hangs in the Oklahoma Bar Center in Oklahoma City. This is the 28th year of award presentations. Recipients will be honored during the Women in Law Conference on Sept. 20 in Tulsa. For more infor mation about the conference, visit www.okbar.org/wil.

rewarding when paired with a great attitude. Thereafter, she continued to serve the state of Oklahoma in various divisions of the Oklahoma attorney general’s public protec tion units as a special counsel and deputy chief assistant attorney general. Since 2018, Ms. Henderson has served as the administrative director of the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints, where she leads the council’s day-to-day opera tions and the investigative team and frequently coordinates and presents at judicial education seminars across the state. Otherwise, she can be found drumming up more work and side projects for herself to promote confidence in the judicial system. Ms. Henderson serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and the OBA Bench and Bar Committee. She frequently presents on various topics rel ative to judicial ethics for both the Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and the Center for Judicial Ethics at the National Center for State Courts. She attributes any successes that have come her way to doing her best and forgetting the rest. Outside the office, she enjoys her free time by traveling with her husband, Jacob, doting on their golden retrievers, Charlie and Crouton, and serving on various committees for her historic neigh borhood in Oklahoma City.

Janet Johnson Janet Johnson is the first female executive director of the Oklahoma Bar Association. Before begin ning that role

in 2023, she had served as director of educational programs for the OBA Continuing Legal Education Department since 2020. Previously, Ms. Johnson held different positions within the Department of Human Services Child Support Services, including serving as managing attorney in the Office of Impact Advocacy and Legal Outreach. In that role, she advocated as lead counsel in appel late proceedings and managed legal trainings and workshops for Child Support Services and the legal community. Before joining DHS, she was a solo practitioner focus ing on family law and collections. Ms. Johnson earned her bach elor’s degree in letters from OU in 2006 and received her J.D. from the OCU School of Law in 2010. She is licensed to practice in Oklahoma and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Taylor Henderson Taylor Henderson has dedicated her legal career to the great state of Oklahoma and the best boards and

agencies it has to offer. She started her public service career in 2012 in the Oklahoma Tax Commission Litigation Division, where she learned that any subject matter, even taxes, can be interesting and

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL