Texas Bar Foundation Honors Allan K. DuBois as an Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer By Sara Dysart
Surrounded by their children, Jeff and Becky Fralik, Andy and Kirsten DuBois, and Chris DuBois, Allan and Pam proudly exhibit the Texas Bar Foundation Oustanding 50 Year Lawyer Award.
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he Texas Bar Foundation honors Texas attorneys by giving annual awards created for certain categories of achievement. The Foundation’s fellows nominate attorneys, and the trustees of the Foundation review the nominations and vote for the recipients. It is truly an honor to be a recipient of a Texas Bar Foundation award. One of the most coveted Texas Bar Foundation awards is the Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer Award—given to attorneys who have practiced law for at least 50 years and who have adhered to “the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession and service to the public.” The inaugural Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer Award was given in 1974 to Judge W. St. John Garwood of Austin. Since 1993, the Texas Bar Foundation has expanded this recognition to honor up to five attorneys each year. The 2021 Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer Award was given to four past State Bar Presidents: Harriet Ellan Miers from 12 San Antonio Lawyer® | sabar.org
Dallas, Kelly Frels from Houston, Terry O. Tottenham from Austin, and San Antonio’s Allan K. DuBois.
The San Antonio Bar’s Favorite Son Allan does not meet the political definition of a “favorite son” whose electoral appeal is based upon his native state rather than his political views. Rather, Allan is considered by many to be the San Antonio Bar’s Favorite Son because his contributions to our bar and community are as “big as Texas” and have extended throughout the state. San Antonio attorneys know Allan as past president of the San Antonio Bar Association and join all Texas attorneys who know Allan as past president of the State Bar of Texas and as champion for the Texas Lawyers Assistance Program. The Texas Bar Foundation’s Oral History about Allan further reveals who Allan DuBois is and why so many consider him to be the San Antonio Bar’s Favorite Son.
Son Influences Father’s Military Career Allan was born in his parent’s hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Married immediately after high school, his parents were young when Allan was born. With seven sisters and one brother, Allan is the oldest of nine children. Allan’s father, an accountant at a paper mill, was drafted into the Army during World War II and became a member of the Military Police Corps. An event in Allan’s life that he rarely shares was a critical factor in his father making the Army his career. Allan was famous before he was one year old, evidenced by many newspaper clippings saved by his mother. During a routine medical checkup, the family doctor noticed that Allan had a growth or tumor which turned out to be cancer. Because his dad was in the Army, the Army provided treatment. Allan’s mom took him by train to Sloan Kettering Institute in New York City, where the doctors successfully operated on him at the age of eight months.