Three Esteemed University of Arizona Law Alumni to Receive the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award
This year, the University of Arizona Law James E. Rogers College of Law will honor Robert J. Hirsh ('64), the Honorable Margaret Houghton ('76) and Daisy Jenkins ('96) with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are selected by faculty for their distinguished and exemplary careers, contributions to the legal profession, support for public causes and law reform and commitment to the pursuit of justice.
Lifetime Achievement Awards Reception
Date: Friday, October 28, 2022
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Where: James E. Rogers College of Law, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Lobby & Snell & Wilmer Courtyard
Who may attend: This event and free and open to all alumni, family, and students. RSVP is requested.
RSVP FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS RECEPTION
2022 Honorees
Robert “Bob” J. Hirsh, Class of 1964
Robert “Bob” J. Hirsh was one of the leading criminal defense attorneys in Arizona for many years and is described as a “champion of the underdog and a justice fighter who sees the best in people and believes that everyone is entitled to the best representation possible.”
Hirsh was born in Shamokin, a small mining town in central Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children. In 1945, when Hirsh was 10, his family moved to Tucson. He served in the Army and upon his return from a tour in Germany he attended University of Arizona completing his bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1960 and his JD in 1964.
He worked for 45 years as a criminal defense attorney in private practice. He was an enormously talented and effective trial lawyer, commanding the courtroom with his intelligence and persuasive resolve. Many important and sometimes notorious clients came his way from members of the mafia to volunteers of the Sanctuary Movement. Through one of his cases, he gained national prominence in his use of the insanity defense. Some of his cases became the subject of popular books. Upon retirement from a successful private practice, Hirsh joined the Pima County Public Defender’s Office where he provided leadership and inspiration for a cadre of young attorneys. He served as Pima County’s Public Defender from 2005-2012. He is most proud of this period in his career, where he had the opportunity to effectively advocate for criminal justice reform.
Hirsh’s honors include his three children and four grandchildren, receiving the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice Vanguard Leadership Award, the Tom Karas Criminal Justice Award, the Pima County Bar Association Robert Hooker Criminal Justice Award and University of Arizona Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award. Hirsh is a founding member and former president of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice and is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Honorable Margaret “Peggy” Houghton, Class of 1976
Judge Margaret “Peggy” Houghton, a pathbreaker for women in the law, has worked for the betterment of children and families throughout her career. Houghton was struck by polio in childhood and was denied access to higher education for social and economic reasons. She married, settled in Florida, had two children and volunteered with organizations serving women and girls.
When she and her family moved to Tucson, she attended the University of Arizona, earning a BA with High Distinction in Anthropology in 1973. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. Her undergraduate Honors Thesis launched her work on gender issues as she developed, surveyed and compiled data for one of the earliest academic studies of differences in the experience of male and female lawyers. Houghton entered law school in 1973 and became one of the founders of the Law Women's Association. After graduating law school in 1976, she co-founded the Arizona Women Lawyers’ Association (AWLA).
She practiced law in Tucson until 1984, when she was named Superior Court Commissioner, the first woman to hold that position. In 1989, Governor Rose Mofford appointed Houghton to the Pima County Superior Court bench. Serving first as Presiding Domestic Relations Judge and later as Presiding Probate Judge, Houghton was committed to helping families resolve their disputes without rancor.
Houghton held leadership positions throughout her professional life. She served on the board of the National Association of Women Judges and spent a month in India, sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency, to lecture on American law. Locally, she has served as president of the Pima County Bar Association and on the boards of Planned Parenthood, Casa de los Ninos, and Child and Family Resources. Houghton was president of the Law College Board of Visitors and was the first woman to be elected president of the Law College Association. She continues to serve on the Honors College Board and the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Board.
Upon her retirement in 2000, AWLA established a need-based scholarship in Houghton’s name at the College of Law to benefit second-year students who are the primary caregiver of a dependent child. After retiring, Houghton regularly taught adult education classes in constitutional law and individual rights. Among other honors, Houghton has received the YWCA Women on the Move Award and is recognized at the University of Arizona’s Women’s Plaza of Honor.
Daisy Jenkins, Class of 1996
Daisy Jenkins, attorney, community leader, entrepreneur and author, has been a pathbreaker throughout her professional life. She holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Communications from the University of Hawaii. Jenkins received her JD from the University of Arizona in 1996, focusing on corporate law and employment law.
Starting as a clerk at then-Hughes Aircraft Company, Jenkins climbed the ranks to vice president of Human Resources. She was Raytheon Company’s first Director of Global Diversity at Global Headquarters in Massachusetts and in year 2000 became the first woman of color to hold the position of Vice President in the company’s 70-year history. Jenkins served the company for 29 years before moving to Carondelet Health Network where she was Chief Administrative & Human Resources Officer from 2010 to 2013.
Since 2013, Jenkins has been President of Daisy Jenkins & Associates, LLC, a business consulting firm specializing in human resource services and expertise, executive and developmental coaching, and customized solutions for clients. Jenkins is also a senior advisor with the THEO Executive Group in Irvine, Texas.
In addition to her professional achievements, Jenkins has been a leader in community service organizations and has been a dedicated advocate for African American student achievement. Her affiliations include the UA Foundation Board of Trustees, Southern Arizona African American Museum Board of Directors, UA President's Black Community Council and the Tucson Unified School District African American Advisory Council. She is also a member of the College of Law’s Board of Visitors. Jenkins, a prolific author, has published three novels and numerous articles for local and national magazines.
Jenkins has been honored by many institutions, including the 2019 Spirit of Philanthropy award from the University of Arizona College of Humanities, the 2015 Si Se Puede Legacy award from the Arizona Cesar Chavez Holiday Coalition, the Phenomenal Woman of the Year award from the University of Arizona Black Alumni Association, and the 2007 Woman of the Year from the Tucson Chamber of Commerce, the 2001 James E. Rogers Distinguished Alumnus Award and most recently in 2022, she was recognized in the June issue of BizTucson as one of the Women Leading the Region. She was also recognized as one of the African American Women at the Top in Corporate America by Ebony Magazine.
Jenkins is devoted to her family and her church community. She and her husband Fred C. Jenkins, Jr. have two sons and twelve grandchildren.