Nominations Open for the 2012 Kutak-Dodds Prizes

NLADA is seeking nominations for the Kutak-Dodds Prizes. The prestigious award annually honors the accomplishments of civil legal aid attorneys, public defenders, assigned counsel or public interest lawyers who, through the practice of law, are contributing in a significant way to the enhancement of human dignity and quality of life of those persons unable to afford legal representation. The Prizes are intended to spotlight the work of practicing attorneys who are engaged for most, if not all, of their time in the actual practice of civil or criminal law that reinforces the principle and reality of justice for all under the law. In commemoration of NLADA’s 90th anniversary, the second Prize was added in 2001 to recognize the visionaries of both the civil legal aid and public defense communities in the same year.

The 2012 Kutak-Dodds Prizes will honor two legal advocates for equal justice, one from the civil legal aid community and another from the public defense community. Each Prize carries a cash award of $10,000.

Monday, April 2 is the 2012 nominations deadline.

The Kutak-Dodds Prizes, established in 1989, are jointly sponsored by the Robert J. Kutak Foundation and NLADA. They are given in memory of Robert J. Kutak and Kenneth R. Dodds, former partners in the Omaha, Nebraska office of Kutak Rock, who were practitioners and advocates of public service, legal education and high ethical standards throughout their lives. In addition to legal services for the poor, the Kutak Foundation supports education in professional ethics, minority scholarships and a variety of other public interest projects. The Foundation is maintained entirely by Mr. Kutak’s friends and associates.

For a list of previous Kutak-Dodds Prize winners, follow this link .

Awards Criteria

To qualify for consideration, the nominee must be an attorney employed by or affiliated with an organization serving persons who cannot afford to pay for legal representation in either civil or criminal matters. The nominee also may be an attorney working for a public interest, nonprofit organization. Nominees must have at least 10 years of legal practice in legal services or public interest work and must be currently so engaged.

Factors that will be considered by the selection committee include:

• Personal vision and commitment;
• Nature of the need(s) addressed by the nominee’s advocacy;
• Innovation in the nominee’s work;
• Impact of successes achieved through effective advocacy; and
• Difficulty of circumstances surrounding the achievement.

The Kutak-Dodds Prizes are given to nominees who are not primarily managers or directors, but are currently involved in legal advocacy and/or active representation of clients on a daily basis in the judicial, legislative, administrative or public policy arena. The prizes honor a history of accomplishments and are not intended to fund specific future endeavors. No conditions are imposed on the recipient’s expenditure of the cash prize.

Nominations Process

To nominate a distinguished colleague for the 2012 Kutak-Dodds Prizes:

1. Prepare a statement of no more than five (5) double-spaced pages containing highlights, accomplishments and impact of the nominee’s career as well as additional reasons you feel he or she deserves the award.

2. Attach the nominee’s resume and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of three persons who have agreed to verify the nominee’s accomplishments.

3. Forward eight copies of the nomination package to:

   Kutak-Dodds Selection Committee
   NLADA
   1140 Connecticut Avenue NW, 9th Floor
   Washington, DC 20036

Nominations must be received by Monday, April 2, 2012. Nomination packets received after that date will not be considered The winners will be honored at NLADA’s 2011 Exemplar Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C.

For Further Information

Contact Deborah Dubois, Vice President of Development, Marketing & Communciations at (202) 452-0620 x223 or d.dubois@nlada.org.