FRIENDS, FAMILY and colleagues shared stories of his admirable legal career as they gathered to honor David L. Nixon as this year's New Hampshire Bar Foundation Fellow.

Each year, the Bar Foundation honors "senior, esteemed members of the Bar who have demonstrated long-term commitment to the foundation." Service to the NH Bar Association and to the larger community are also considered in awarding the honor.

Nixon, president of the Manchester law firm Nixon, Raiche, Manning, Casinghino & Leach, has enjoyed a lengthy and illustrious career. After volunteer service in the US Army, he earned his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1958, the same year he was admitted to the NH Bar. He started his law career as an associate with the McLane law firm, and over the years served as associate and partner in a number of other firms before starting Nixon, Raiche.

Nixon has been a member and officer of several professional organizations, including president (1980-81) and secretary-treasurer (1965-69) of the NHBA, president of the Manchester and New England Bar Associations and director of the American Judicature Society. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Inner Circle of Advocates and the International Society of Barristers.

Nixon was also an original Foundation Fellow and a charter member of the NH Bar Foundation Justice Society. He has contributed to a number of charitable organizations and done much pro bono work throughout his career.

Among the professional honors Nixon has received are the Bar's Distinguished Service Award in 1982, an award from the NH Trial Lawyers' Association as Trial Lawyer of the Decade in 1988, the Bar's Award for Outstanding Professionalism in 1993 and the Manchester Bar Association's Lawyer of the Year Award in 1995.

Nixon has also been active in NH politics, serving as a member of the Legislature from 1969-74 and in the State Senate from 1971-74, where he served as Senate President from 1973-74. He served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1971-72.

Tony McManus, chair of the Bar Foundation, opened the Foundation Fellows Reception, held Jan. 26 in conjunction with the Bar's Midyear Meeting, by reading a statement by Governor Jeanne Shaheen, who was unable to attend the reception. In it Shaheen said that "over the years I have witnessed your deep commitment to equal justice for all and your passion for the justice system."

"Throughout your legislative career and in your private practice, you have always led by example. Your long career has been distinguished by your continuing efforts to transform your beliefs into actions, to bring about equal access to justice for all citizens. Your advocacy for the vulnerable in our society through your service on community boards, your pro bono work and the mentoring you have provided to so many members of your profession is clearly reflected in this honor," Shaheen wrote.

Kimon Zachos, a partner with Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green and a long-time friend of Nixon's, offered highlights of Nixon's career, peppering them with humor-how Nixon was instrumental in efforts to expand the NH court system and in turning the NH Bar into a "truly active and integrated bar-the best thing that happened to us." All was done, Zachos said, while Nixon became an outstanding trial lawyer-the "defender of all and an advocate for the abused and injured."

"[He is] an exceptional advocate who I always want on my side. We do well to honor Dave tonight," said Zachos.

Nixon's daughter, attorney Leslie C. Nixon, also with the Nixon, Raiche law firm, offered further details of her father's contributions to the law profession in NH, including the many legal statutes he helped to institute in the Legislature. She talked of his role in helping to persuade the courts to pass the rule unifying the NHBA. Although that move still has its critics, Nixon said, she believes that the Bar "remains today, at its core, what my father and his colleagues envisioned-a group that is dedicated to improving the skills, the competence and the ethics of the bench and bar, and through legislative efforts, continuing education and committee work, advancing and protecting a strong and independent judiciary and a competent, civil and compassionate bar."

Nixon went on to praise her father as an exceptional attorney who, despite his success, she said, remained a caring and compassionate person. "He has never been content to be less than the best, yet he has also been able to achieve that while remaining compassionate towards and caring of those around him-his family, his friends, his opponents, his co-workers and, most of all, his clients," she said.

Nixon acknowledged and thanked his friends and colleagues in attendance for coming out to honor him. "I've had a lot of honors and awards, this one I appreciate as much or more than any of them," Nixon said.

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