The American Bankers Association will recognize Nebraska attorney Steven Turner as the recipient of its Blanchfield Award.
The award, given in recognition of John Blanchfield, former ABA senior vice president of its Center for Agricultural and Rural Banking, recognizes the work of a non-banker who significantly contributed to agricultural lending.
Turner, an attorney focusing on commercial and ag financing transactions with the Omaha-based law firm Baird Holm LLP, will be honored during the ABA’s Agricultural Bankers Conference from Nov. 6-9 in Omaha, Neb. “Winning this award is a significant honor for me,” Turner said. “Over the years, I’ve become good friends with [Blanchfield], so it certainly makes it more meaningful to receive an award named after him.”
Turner has been an attorney with Baird Holm LLP for more than 40 years and remains active in the legal community. A fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association, Turner is also active with the American Bar Association and has served on its Uniform Commercial Code Committee and numerous other committees.
Turner was included in the “Great Plains Super Lawyers 2013” list for his work in banking law, and he has been selected by his peers as one of “The Best Lawyers in America,” in banking and finance law, bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law and financial service regulation law every year since 1989. He was designed in 2009 as the “Banking Law Lawyer of the year” by Best Lawyers in America. Two years later, he was named the “Bankruptcy and “Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law Lawyer of the Year.”
During the November conference, the ABA will recognize Keith Phillips, senior vice president and ag division supervisor at Lebanon, Va.-based First Bank and Trust Company, as the recipient of its Bruning Award, a lifetime achievement award ag bankers receive for showing leadership and dedication to providing credit and financial guidance to farmers, ranchers and businesses in rural America.