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Jim Morgan, a local attorney and former state representative, will receive the N.C. State Bar's "Distinguished Service Award"  tonight.

The award honors current and retired members of the N. C. State Bar who have demonstrated exemplary service to the legal profession.

Morgan, a High Point native, joined the state bar in 1969 after receiving his law degree from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Ala.  In the 1970s, he was chairman of the High Point Legal Services Board and the N.C. Commission on Legal Aid in North Carolina, both of which focused on providing legal services to under-served and indigent populations. He was president of the High Point Bar Association and the 18th Judicial District Bar from 1995 to 1996, and was chairman of the N.C. Council of Bar Presidents from 1999 to 2000.

In 1999, he received the N.C. Bar Association’s Centennial Award and he was recognized with the I. Beverly Lake Public Service Award in 2006. Morgan also served on the Citizen Lawyer Committee of the N.C. Bar Association from 2007 to 2008 and has provided pro bono legal services to more thanr 60 nonprofit organizations seeking to incorporate.

Outside legal circles, Morgan established the High Point Community Foundation, of which he was founding chairman from 1990 to 2003. And he represented Guilford County in the state House of Representatives from 1977-1982.