WASHINGTON, DC, April 30, 2002 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce that Harry J. Fulton of the mental health division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia and Fred Fuchs with Legal Aid of Central Texas are this year's winners of the prestigious 2002 Kutak-Dodds Prizes. Jointly sponsored by NLADA and the Robert J. Kutak Foundation, each prize carries a cash award of $10,000. The winners will receive their awards at the NLADA Exemplar Awards Dinner in Washington, DC, on May 30.

The Kutak-Dodds Prizes, awarded annually, honor the accomplishments of civil legal aid attorneys, public defenders or public interest advocates 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. This year's awards honor two equal justice advocates, one from the civil legal aid community and another from the public defense community.

"It gives me great pleasure to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of Harry Fulton and Fred Fuchs in the pursuit of equal justice for all," said Clint Lyons, NLADA president and CEO. "Because of the great strides these gentlemen have made within our equal justice community, many low-income people who cannot afford effective legal assistance are given help during the most difficult of times in their lives. Fulton and Fuchs set examples that other champions of equal access to justice can be proud to follow."

Harry Fulton, chief of the mental health division for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, is referred to by his colleagues as the "dean of mental health law in DC." He has dedicated his entire 30-year professional career to advocacy for the rights and freedoms of people with mental illnesses. During his tenure with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia he has defended the rights of hundreds of clients who have been involuntarily hospitalized.

Fulton has been an innovative contributor to the practice of law by steadfastly practicing the "continuous representation model," which ensures the same lawyer continuously represents the express interests of a client throughout the entire legal proceeding, from start to finish – a model that not all public defender offices use. This system of advocacy benefits the client with a continuity of representation and benefits the lawyer through the opportunity to know the client more in depth than is possible in a system where lawyers rotate through assignments. In addition, Fulton has represented a client in two successful mandamus petitions where there was illegal delay in the client's trial rights, and he has been a leader in securing fundamental rights for persons with mental illness in the District of Columbia through class action litigation. Lastly, he played an integral role in a major class action suit regarding the need for greater community-based resources for persons with mental illness, Dixon v. Weinberger, 405 F. Supp. 974 (D.D.C. 1975).

Fulton's colleagues nominated him collectively for the Kutak-Dodds Prizes' defender award, saying "It would be difficult to imagine a more dedicated, compassionate and effective lawyer than Harry Fulton. He is quintessentially an advocate, a skilled, insightful and poignant spokesperson for clients who too often have no other effective voice for themselves. In sum, he personifies all that is worthy of emulation in our profession."

Fred Fuchs, an attorney with the Legal Aid of Central Texas, is highly esteemed by the staff he works with, and is considered a "living legend" in the field of low-income housing. Dedicating 25 years of service to low-income individuals, Fuchs is Texas' leading advocate for justice for the poor in the field of housing, community development and tenant rights. In addition, he is considered by many to be the foremost national expert in landlord tenant law, public housing, urban renewal, Home and Community Development Block Grants, Section 8 Rental Assistance, fair housing, access of Section 8 Voucher holders to Low-Income House Tax Credit apartments and the Affordable House Disposition program.

The list of career accomplishments Fuchs has achieved in the field of housing is extensive. Fuchs has successfully advocated on behalf of his clients in the judicial, administrative and legislative arenas. He is credited with saving Austin's largest public housing site from demolition, setting the national standard for preserving the number of apartments set aside for the poor in the Affordable Housing Disposition program. He also served as a key expert in negotiations that required developers of Low Income House Tax Credits (LIHTC) to accept Section 8 Vouchers. The negotiation process was used by the Internal Revenue Service as the model for developing a national standard for LIHTC.

Karen Paup and John Henneberger, co-directors, of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service state in a letter of support for Fuch's nomination, "Over three decades, Fred Fuchs has blocked demolition of public housing, fought mismanagement in government housing programs, opened access for more poor people to housing, fought for and achieved desegregated housing for minorities and defended the rights of tenants. Fred's remarkable depth of expertise, his supreme dedication and his intense caring have ably served to preserve housing and housing rights for hundreds of poor Texans."

For more information on the Kutak-Dodds Prizes, contact Mizue Suito, director of development, at (202) 452-0620 ext. 217 or via e-mail at m.suito@nlada.org.

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Established in 1989 and presented each year at the NLADA Exemplar Awards Dinner in Washington, DC, the Kutak-Dodds Prizes are jointly sponsored by NLADA and the Robert J. Kutak Foundation. The award is named for the late Robert J. Kutak, a member of the first Legal Services Corporation board and the late Kenneth R. Dodds, former partner in the Omaha office of Kutak Rock. Kutak dedicated his career to public service and legal education, and Dodds was well known for his life-long interest in providing legal services to the disadvantaged.

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.