WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2002 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce that this year's recipient of the Arthur von Briesen Award is Carl Quintal, a private attorney who does pro bono work with South Middlesex Legal Services in Sharon, Massachusetts. Quintal will be honored during NLADA's 2002 Annual Conference Awards Dinner on Friday, November 15, at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in Wisconsin.

The Arthur von Briesen Award honors a private attorney who has made substantial volunteer contributions in support of the delivery of civil legal aid or indigent defense representation. It celebrates the achievements of the first president of NLADA.

While working with South Middlesex Legal Services, Quintal found himself drawn to special education law, in part because of his experience with one of his own children who is a special education student in the Massachusetts school system. In 2001, he obtained as his first client in the area of special education law, Joy McGrail. It was McGrail who nominated Quintal for this award. Quintal and McGrail worked as a team for several months in behalf of the interests of her son Mark, building a case in hopes of providing Mark with the appropriate educational program that he had been denied for many years. Ultimately, they achieved their goal, laying the groundwork for the tremendous academic success that Mark has since achieved.

In her nomination letter McGrail said, "Attorney Quintal's work on this case has exceeded beyond ones highest expectations, hopes and dreams. He has given of himself tirelessly, even though he was already employed as a full time corporate attorney. He treated me with the utmost respect, compassion and commitment. He returned every one of my desperate calls and always responded to every e-mail I sent to him, which was one or more daily. …Carl Quintal has restored hope back into my son's shattered life. He gave back to him what was taken away… the freedom to dream, aspire and be given every opportunity to achieve ones goals. … I never realized until now that heroes do exist."

When he is not working on pro bono cases, Quintal serves as corporate counsel for Brooks-PRI Automation in Chelmsford Massachusetts, where his work focuses on the drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts. Prior to graduating from Suffolk University Law School in 1999, he worked in both high technology and biotechnology companies, negotiating a variety of contractual agreements, predominantly those related to the purchase and sale and computer and communications systems and components and related software licensing.

For more information on NLADA awards, visit www.nlada.org.

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (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. Founded in 1911, NLADA is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans.