WASHINGTON, DC, November 5, 2004 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) will honor Sister Marjorie Shelvy, staff attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, with the 2004 Denison Ray Award to be given during its Annual Conference Awards Luncheon on Friday, December 3, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Honoring an individual who has provided exceptional service to the legal aid community as a staff member, client board member or volunteer of a provider program, the "Denny" is named for a career legal aid activist. Denison Ray served as executive director of legal services programs in Missouri, Maine, North Carolina and New York and was a long-time leader of the national Project Advisory Group.

For the last 12 years, Sister Shelvy has served as a staff attorney in the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’ (LAFLA) Government Benefits Unit. She has dedicated her entire professional career to advocating for society’s less fortunate, and those most likely to go unheard and unseen by the justice system. Sister Shelvy has been a member of the Catholic Religious Community, Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul since 1961, making it a total of 43 years of selfless dedication to the service of others. Sister Shelvy attended law school with the sole purpose of aiding others. She used that education to work for LAFLA, serving indigent clients and their families.

Over the years, Sister Shelvy has developed a nationally recognized expertise in the area of foster care benefits. In fact, she was integral in changing the legal landscape for children who reside with related foster parents, such as a grandchild going to live with a grandparent, or a niece/nephew living with an aunt or uncle. Serving as lead counsel in the case of Rosales v. Thompson, 321 F.3d 835 (9th Cir. 2003), Sister Shelvy won benefits for the neediest children in the state of California. Under the presiding judge’s ruling, “California and its 58 counties are required to pay the state’s eligible relative caregivers retroactive benefits dating back to December 23, 1997” (the original date that the state submitted a plan rejected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The decision in the Rosales case has been described as “the most significant Title IV-E event since the passage of the Child Welfare Act of 1980.”

Youth Law Center Staff Attorney Alice Bussiere stated, “Through her dogged determination and skilled legal advocacy, thousands of foster children in California will receive benefits they would otherwise be denied. …Marjorie’s advocacy has established a legal precedent that will help foster children in other states in the Ninth Circuit and has significantly contributed to the debate about foster care reform and financing of the child welfare system currently underway in Washington.”

In a nomination letter submitted by five of Sister Shelvy’s colleagues from the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles, the group applauds her contributions by saying, “She is not simply bright, accomplished and a tremendous resource to our legal community, but she gives life to those qualities through her compassion for those in need and her unrelenting drive to make the world a better place. Moreover, Marjorie is incredibly effective at what she does. It can truly be said of Marjorie that she has made a difference in the lives of many of the most vulnerable children and families in Los Angeles who might otherwise have no hope for relief.”

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.