Deadline for Submissions: February 15

1.        Any member in good standing of NALS of Arizona who has at least three (3) years’ legal experience (with the exception of the current Award of Excellence chairperson and any member who has won the Award in the immediate prior ten (10) years) is eligible to compete for the Award of Excellence. 

2.        Any member in good standing may be nominated by any other member in good standing.  The Award of Excellence chairperson (or other appointed person) from each chapter may nominate that chapter’s local winner.

3.        All entries must be on the application form and submitted in quadruplicate to the Award of Excellence chairperson.  The 100-word limit, where indicated, MUST BE OBSERVED.  Applications will be disqualified if material for any section which has a 100-word limit exceeds the limit. 

4.       Each application may be accompanied by ONE letter of recommendation of no more than 100 words.  The person writing the letter of recommendation may mention the applicant’s name once in the reference line at the beginning of the letter.  The applicant’s name must NOT be used anywhere in the letter.

5.        To be eligible for judging, all entries shall be postmarked or delivered by other means on or before FEBRUARY 15, 2011.  Entries postmarked later than February 15 will not be judged.

6.        If an entry is disqualified, the Award of Excellence chairperson shall notify the person who submitted the nomination giving the reason for the disqualification.

7.        The Award of Excellence chairperson shall submit all qualified entries to the judges no later than MARCH 15, 2010.  The name of the applicant shall be removed from each application prior to submission to the judges.  The judges shall return the applications to the Award of Excellence chairperson no later than MARCH 31, 2010.  At that time, the Award of Excellence chairperson shall tally the number of points for each applicant at which time the winner will be decided.  In the case of a tie (should two (2) or more applicants have the same number of points), the judges shall reevaluate each application to mutually determine a winner.

8.        The winner of the Award of Excellence shall be kept confidential by the Award of Excellence chairperson until the announcement of the recipient is made at the Annual Spring Board Meeting banquet.

9.        All applicants will be judged on the following basis:

          a.   Legal Experience > 100 points > 20% of total
          b.   Legal Education > 125 points > 25% of total
          c.    Legal Skills > 50 points > 10% of total
          d.   Association Achievements > 150 points > 30% of total
          e.   Professional Achievements > 50 points > 10% of total
          f.    Letter of Recommendation > 25 points > 5% of total
         
          TOTALS        500 points            100%