Friday, Eldredge & Clark Attorney Donald H. Bacon is the 2018 recipient of the Sidney S. McMath Professionalism Award. The honor is given annually to recognize an attorney who consistently exemplified the highest ideals of integrity, honor and civility and whose polite and courteous demeanor reflect the highest levels of professionalism.
The award was presented to Bacon by fellow attorney William Mell Griffin III at the Pulaski County Bar Association’s annual meeting on Thursday, May 24, 2018.
“Don has tried more cases than anyone in the firm and has done so while remaining one of the most liked and respected attorneys in Arkansas,” Griffin said. “Don was particularly deserving of the award because of the civility, respect and courtesy he shows to friend and foe alike. His way is a model we should all try to emulate. He joined a very select group of lawyers who have demonstrated that you can be the best in your profession and demonstrate courtesy, accommodation and civility in your dealings with others.”
The Sidney S. McMath Award was established in 2004 in honor of McMath who passed away the year prior. McMath was the 34th Governor of Arkansas and one of the most successful trial attorneys in the nation.
Bacon, who has been practicing law for 40 years, is a member of the firm’s management committee and a partner in both the litigation and medical malpractice practice groups. He has tried more than 180 jury trials to verdict and despite the contentious nature of our profession, “he is universally recognized as one of the most courteous and polite attorneys in Arkansas,” Griffin said. “His degree of civility is unmatched among Arkansas trial lawyers.”
As part of his statewide practice, Bacon’s jury trials have taken him to circuit courts in more than half the Arkansas counties and three-fourths of the 11 Federal District Courts in Arkansas. He has also served as a Pulaski County Special Judge and was a District Attorney for the largest Class One freight railroad in the country from 1991 to 2005.
Bacon joins the firm’s former managing partner William H. “Buddy” Sutton (2006) and former partners Frederick S. Ursery (2008) and John Dewey Watson (2011) who are part of an elite group of attorneys who have received this honor.
