“As an attorney, a great deal of the time, the items you do that help people today, no person else is aware of about.”
Which is how Yankton trial legal professional Mike Stevens described some of the high factors of his job, as perfectly as some of his shock at staying named 2021-2022 South Dakota Trial Lawyer of the Yr previous month at the once-a-year condition bar conference in Quick Metropolis.
According to an e mail sent by South Dakota Trial Attorneys Association (SDTLA) Govt Director Linda Sue Stevens, who is also Mike’s spouse, the variety criteria for the honor involve provider to the lawful career, assistance to the demo bar, in individual, the SDTLA, advocacy for the security of victims’ rights, attempts to educate the public concerning the need to have to maintain the integrity of the civil justice system and noteworthy accomplishment in a demo or appellate exercise within the final yr.
“Mike has been a community servant in the Yankton community for numerous several years,” Linda Stevens advised the Push & Dakotan. “He served on the Yankton College Board for 21 years the Senior Citizens Board of Directors the Yankton Foundation and he presently is a condition legislator in which he has served for eight decades.”
Receiving the award was humbling since of the big number of wonderful trial lawyers in South Dakota, who practice all around the place and regularly keep their personal with major-identify law companies, Mike Stevens explained to the Press & Dakotan.
At final month’s award ceremony, Stevens explained he was aiding at the convention by photographing the event.
“One of my responsibilities was using shots of all the unique people today that had been profitable (awards) in the crowd but my most important emphasis was to choose a photo of the particular person that I was informed was likely to earn trial law firm of the 12 months, to catch that instant in which they lastly know it was them,” he explained. “The ironic point about it is, when they are midway by way of describing the man or woman, all of a sudden, I understood it was me, and it was a large shock.”
Stevens said he appeared all around the space and observed a group of guys and gals that have performed astounding things with complicated, sensitive circumstances.
“You appear at by yourself and say, ‘I’m not certain I in good shape in there,’” he reported.
The finest achievement for a trial law firm is a “thank you” from a customer, Stevens said, but it is additional particular when your peers recognize you since they haven’t been shoppers and still see advantage in your operate.
Stevens has held several positions on the SDTLA board, which includes president, and has taught continuing legal education courses. He explained he thinks individuals have an obligation to develop into associated in community services.
“We’ve obtained a terrific local community, we have acquired a terrific condition and it only does that by people today taking part and giving the most precious issue that they personal, and which is their time,” he claimed, noting that he enjoys performing with youthful persons and was a church youth leader for numerous years, supporting quite a few kids.
“My spouse, Linda, has been really supportive of me,” Stevens explained. “We have four young ones and they’ve been really supportive, and you really will need that simply because, if you have an unpopular situation, they get flack sometimes, also, as a outcome of that. They put up with a large amount.”
As a legislator, Stevens mentioned he considers his part to be generally of services, so when he been given a most cancers analysis in 2019, Stevens made the decision not to run that year.
“That position belongs to the citizens of Yankton County, not Mike Stevens. Which is not my position to preserve. It is their career and mine to generate,” he said.
The subsequent year, Stevens was hospitalized for COVID-19 and had a extensive restoration period. But he returned to the Legislature in 2021.
“I moved here in 1975 to go to legislation college, and I appreciated the people today in this article, the values, the do the job ethic, and as a result, I assume we all have an obligation for community services,” Stevens reported, noting that until then, he experienced moved to a new town each a few a long time. “You just simply cannot just take you have acquired to give.”
