WASHINGTON, DC, May 31, 2006 — In honor of their dedication to equal justice, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce that Sharon Dietrich, managing attorney for Public Benefits and Employment for Community Legal Services, Inc., and Melinda Pendergraph, appellate attorney, Missouri Public Defender System, are this year’s winners of the prestigious 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 during the NLADA Exemplar Awards Dinner at The Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, DC, on June 19.

Awarded annually, the Kutak-Dodds Prizes honor the accomplishments of civil legal aid attorneys, public defenders and 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.

"It is a pleasure to honor Sharon Dietrich and Melinda Pendergraph for their extraordinary dedication to the pursuit of justice in America for those who are most vulnerable among us," said Jo-Ann Wallace, NLADA president and CEO. "Dietrich’s strong leadership in the field of legal services employment is helping to break down the barriers that prevent economically disadvantaged members of society from improving their lives. And, Pendergraph’s dedication as an appellate attorney is giving hope for fair justice to people who have long faced an uphill battle in America’s court system."

Sharon Dietrich has spent nearly 20 years as an advocate for the employment unit at the Community Legal Services (CLS) of Philadelphia. Soon after joining CLS in 1987, she became active in a variety of litigation, ranging from federal court class actions to civil service and unemployment compensation hearings before administrative law judges. At the time she started the unit dealt primarily with traditional employment law such as discrimination, wrongful discharge and labor relations claims, but Dietrich worked to gradually create and implement a new vision of legal services employment practice. She did this by focusing on issues such as access to work and benefits for the lowest-paid workers. Dietrich has been active in breaking down the barriers to work for persons with criminal records; improving the quality of work-training programs; protecting clients going through the TANF-mandated transitions from welfare to work; combating discrimination against and victimization of immigrants and limited English speakers by employers; advocating for childcare; and much more. She has represented individual clients and handles a demanding caseload despite her local management responsibilities, which include serving in state and national leadership roles.

Catherine C. Carr, CLS executive director, said Dietrich’s work has extended far beyond Pennsylvania. “Sharon has been very influential in getting employment law work started in other legal services programs around the country. She has repeatedly spoken at national and regional meetings and, with her CLS unit, has designed and implemented the annual employment law track at NLADA Substantive Law conferences. She has provided training at legal services statewide conferences from Georgia to California.”

Melinda Pendergraph has built her career out of looking at death in the face. As an appellate attorney for the Missouri Public Defender System, she is often the last hope her clients have when facing the death penalty. When she joined the Public Defender System in 1986, she became one of three attorneys who were assigned the death penalty cases, a calling she continues to this day. Some of the cases she has handled included Butler v. State (1997), which was the first case where the Missouri Supreme Court found ineffective counsel in a death case and Chaney v. State (1998), where Pendergraph convinced the Missouri Supreme Court that the death sentence was disproportionate; only the second victory of this type since the death penalty was reinstated in Missouri. She has also benefited numerous clients by getting them new trials, new penalty phases and death penalty reversals. Pendergraph has been on the faculty at appellate skills workshops, death penalty training and training of professional ethics. Co-worker Nancy A. McKerrow, assistant public defender with the Missouri Public Defender System, describes Pendergraph as a caring, committed attorney. “No one outside the death penalty and appellate defender community may know Melinda Pendergraph’s name. She is not famous and certainly is not getting financially rich from the vocation she has chosen. But she has brought a wealth of skill and caring to her clients and co-workers and deserves recognition from her peers.”

For more information on the Kutak-Dodds Prizes, contact Wilma Brooks, director of development, at (202) 452-0620, ext. 232, or via e-mail at w.brooks@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 for 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.