The Oklahoma Bar Journal September 2025

S potlight A ward W inners

2025 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 29th year of award presentations. Recipients will be honored during the Women in Law Conference on Sept. 19 in Oklahoma City. For more infor mation about the conference, visit www.okbar.org/wil.

actions. In 2022, she became a shareholder in the Tulsa office of GableGotwals, representing both corporate and individual clients in a wide range of industries, includ ing health care, insurance, con struction, engineering and energy. An experienced trial attorney, Ms. Annis is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. She is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and DRI. She has been an active member of the Oklahoma Association of Defense Counsel, serving on the Board of Directors from 2009-2016 and was the OADC president in 2014. In addition to her professional achievements, Ms. Annis is civ ic-minded and community oriented. She has served Special Olympics Oklahoma for more than 20 years as a member of the Board of Directors and has been elected to its Executive Committee for the past 12 years. Additionally, she has held several leadership roles at Harvard Avenue Christian Church. She is married to Bill Largess, and they have three daughters: Kimberly, Maggie and Olivia.

Virginia Henson

Virginia (Ginny) Henson is a sole practitioner in Norman who practices

mainly fam ily law. She received her J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1979. She has held numerous leadership positions in the OBA Family Law Section, including chair. She has been an editor of the Oklahoma Family Law Section Practice Manual since 2006. Ms. Henson assumed the update responsibilities for the Oklahoma Family Law Handbook , created by Professor Robert Spector in 2023. She is an adjunct professor of family law at the OU College of Law and has served on the Board of Editors of the Oklahoma Bar Journal . She received the OBA Golden Quill Award for best Oklahoma Bar Journal article in 2020. She has twice been named the Oklahoma Outstanding Lawyer. She is also a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Ms. Henson has presented exten sively in continuing legal education for the American Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association and its Family Law Section, the Tinker Air Force Base JAG and numerous county bar associations.

Jennifer R. Annis

Jennifer R. Annis gradu ated from the OU College of Law in 1998 and joined the law firm then known

as Atkinson, Haskins, Nellis, Holeman, Phipps, Brittingham & Gladd, where she developed her skills as a trial lawyer, primarily defending medical malpractice

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL