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ATTLEBORO - Attleboro District Court Judge Gregory L. Phillips, hailed for his support of community service, will receive an award from the probation department in May.

Phillips, the presiding judge at the court, will receive the first Kevin Duggan Community Service Award at the sixth annual Probation Employee Recognition Award Ceremony scheduled for May 18.

The event will be held at the Statehouse.

"Judge Phillips has a long history of support for the concept of community service and a deep appreciation of the real value that the program provides to the court and to the public," said Stephen V. Price, executive director of the Office of Community Corrections.

The award was established in honor of Kevin Duggan, statewide supervisor of the Massachusetts Trial Court Community Service Program, who died in June. "To receive an award for contributing to the community is a great honor," he said.

"I was raised with the concept of giving back. I have benefited so much from others who have given to me," Phillips said.

"I have a great appreciation and admiration for Kevin Duggan. I worked very closely with him. Kevin Duggan gave so much of his life to others and contributed greatly to the community," Phillips said.

The judge called the award "the greatest award I could receive."

People serving probation in Attleboro have worked with the city's highway department and recreation department cleaning streets and athletic fields in Attleboro.

They have also worked at area non-profit agencies such as Winslow Farms in Norton, which cares for abused and neglected animals.

Phillips has been a judge in Attleboro since 1999. He previously had served on the bench since 1992 in the Roxbury division of the Boston Municipal Court before being assigned to Attleboro.

Before being appointed to the bench, he was legal counsel in the Office of the Commissioner of Probation from 1980 to 1992.

He was in private practice from 1977 to 1980 and was a public defender for the Massachusetts Defenders Committee from 1974 to 1977.

DAVID LINTON can be reached at 508-236-0428 or at dlinton@thesunchronicle.com.