Jacqueline Bunn (Courtesy photo)

The State Bar of Georgia honored State Board of Pardons and Paroles member Jacqueline Bunn with special leadership award Friday.

The bar presented Bunn with the Thomas Burnside Jr. Excellence in Bar Leadership Award Friday at the bar's Board of Governors annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. The Burnside award honors lifetime commitment to the legal profession and the justice system in Georgia.

“Receiving this kind of recognition from the bar is a tremendous honor,” Bunn said in a parole board news release. “I have been blessed to serve and lead in various voluntary bar organizations over my thirty plus years in the law. I have also been honored to serve in state government because to whom much is given, much is required.”

Bunn was nominated by the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, GABWA. She has been a GABWA member for 16 years and served as president in 2013.

Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Bunn to the parole board starting in July 2016 and reappointed her to a full seven year term later that year. She is one of five members who determine which eligible offenders receive parole in Georgia.

Bunn began her career as an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Section for the Georgia Department of Law. In 2006, she served as deputy director in the legal services unit of the Georgia Department of Public Safety. She was appointed to serve as executive director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in 2013.

Bunn is a member of the State Bar of Georgia's Committee to Promote Inclusion in the Profession. She is also a member of the Georgia Bar Journal's Editorial Board. She earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and a law degree from the University of Georgia.

The bar's annual meeting started Thursday at the Orlando Ritz Carlton.

The bar also recognized Georgia Supreme Court Justice Michael Boggs with the Spirit of Justice Award. Boggs led Deal's Criminal Justice Reform Council. The group heard reports from chief judges, United States attorneys and bar committees. The gathering included the passing of the gavel from the current president to the next. Court of Appeals Judge Ken Hodges finished his one-year term. Marietta lawyer Darrell Sutton started his.