Peter G. Beeson, of Devine Millimet law firm in Manchester is the 2008 recipient of the E. Donald Dufresne Award for Outstanding Professionalism. He was honored at the 2008 Annual Meeting on June 21.

The award recognizes an attorney who epitomizes these qualities:
"A professional lawyer who is an expert in law, pursuing a learned art in service to clients and in the spirit of public service; and engaging in these pursuits as part of a common calling to promote justice and public good."

Beeson currently chairs the Devine Millimet Environmental and Attorney Conduct & Liability practice groups. After working for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, he joined the NH Attorney General’s Office in 1984, where he headed the criminal bureau and also served associate attorney general for public protection before entering private practice in 1992. He joined the Devine Millimet firm in 1999.

He has served on professional task forces including serving as chair of an appellate review task force in 2003 and as a member of a Commission on the Status of the Legal Profession in 2006. He also has written and lectured frequently on the law at law schools and for continuing legal education programs.

Also honored at the Annual Meeting were Hillsborough County Probate Court Judge Raymond A. Cloutier, the recipient of the 2008 Justice William A. Grimes Judicial Professionalism Award, and Gretchen L. Witt, NHBA Secretary and Chief of the Civil Law Division, US Attorney’s Office, NH District, who received the 2008 Award for Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession.