• The Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation awarded Bernie de la Rionda, senior managing director of the State Attorney's Office, with the its Trial Award for his "Outstanding Advocacy in Capital Cases." He will be presented the award July 24 in Washington, D.C., at the association's 34th annual summer conference. De la Rionda has been an assistant state attorney in the 4th Judicial Circuit since 1983 and a member of the homicide unit since June 1986. He has tried more than 250 jury trials, including 68 murder cases (29 death penalty). He obtained a death penalty recommendation and sentence in 18 of those cases.
• The Jacksonville Bar Association Young Lawyers Section President Michael Orr appointed Alexandria Vita Hill to serve the remainder of Bradley Blair's two-year term on the section's board of governors. Blair is relocating to Alabama.
• Four Jacksonville lawyers are among 59 statewide who earned Florida Bar board certification, a designation that places them among the only group of Florida lawyers who may use the terms "specialist," "expert" or "B.C.S." for Board Certified Specialist when referring to their legal credentials. They are:
• C. Ryan Eslinger of Milton Leach Whitman D'Andrea & Eslinger — Admiralty and Maritime Law
• Jessie L. Harrell of Creed & Gowdy P.A. — Appellate Practice
• Daniel A. Iracki of Coker Schickel Sorenson & Posgay — Civil Trial
• Robert H. Trudeau of Purcell Flanagan Hay & Greene P.A. — Tax Law