Washington, DC, November 2, 2001 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce that the 2001 Charles Dorsey Award winner is Robert L. Spangenberg, president of The Spangenberg Group (TSG) in Newton, Massachusetts.

The Charles Dorsey Award is given biennially to an individual who has provided extraordinary and dedicated service to the equal justice community and to organizations that promote expanding and improving access to justice for low-income people. Recipients of this award must demonstrate a commitment to equal justice through service as an officer, board or committee member of a national or statewide organization devoted to fulfilling the promise of equal access to justice.

"Bob Spangenberg is among the rarest of individuals," said Harvard Law School Professor Charles Olgetree, Jr. "He possesses unflagging dedication to improving the legal representation provided to low-income individuals. He has the vision, charisma, talent and leadership skills necessary to effect significant improvements in this nation’s legal services programs for the poor, all the while earning the blessings and respect of figures in the highest positions of power, including Supreme Court justices, legislators, bar leaders and government officials."

Spangenberg has devoted more than 35 years to the study and improvement of the delivery of legal services to the poor in the United States and he is nationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities in his field. His efforts have included creating one of the first in-court clinical law programs in the country and assisting in the design and implementation of the first federal civil legal services program.

In the mid-1970s Spangenberg served as executive director for the Action Plan for Legal Services in Massachusetts, a project of the Boston Bar. This comprehensive research project assessed the legal needs – both civil and criminal - of low-income residents of Massachusetts and set out new methods and procedures for delivering legal services. His work on the Action Plan for Legal Services shaped his future career path: since 1975 Spangenberg’s work has consisted of conducting studies, providing technical assistance and making proposals for improvements to legal services delivery systems for the poor. This work has been conducted on behalf of federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Justice Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and Bureau of Justice Statistics; Bureau of Justice Assistance; state, county and local agencies; national, state and local bar associations; public defender and civil legal services programs; private foundations; legislative bodies; and numerous other entities.

Since the creation of The Spangenberg Group in1985, Spangenberg and his staff have visited and worked in all 50 states with civil legal services programs and state and local indigent defense systems. TSG has been the primary consultant to the American Bar Association’s Bar Information Program, which provides services to indigent defense programs, bar associations, state and county officials and legislative bodies concerned about the improvement of indigent defense services in their jurisdiction.

In addition, TSG is part of a consortium of U.S. firms awarded a contract by the U.S. Agency for International Development to support the transition to and consolidation of the rule of law in countries eligible for USAID assistance. In 2000, TSG was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State and from the Ford Foundation to strengthen several legal programs in China established to provide legal aid to low-income women.

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.