PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, DC, September 14, 2006 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce that seven-term U.S. Congressman from North Carolina and Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mel Watt, will be the keynote speaker at the NLADA 2006 Annual Conference, November 8 – 11, in Charlotte, NC.

First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992, Watt represents the state’s most urban congressional district, the 12th, and is one of only two African American members elected to Congress from North Carolina in the 20th Century. He was unanimously elected as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in December of 2004. He is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, on which he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. He is also a member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves on the Financial Institutions Subcommittee, the Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee and the Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee. Congressman Watt has been a leading champion of consumers during his tenure on the House Financial Services Committee and has co-sponsored important anti-predatory lending legislation. More importantly, he has been the lead defender behind the scenes for the preservation of existing consumer rights from efforts by industry to weaken federal law.

“It is a true and fitting honor to have Congressman Watt as the keynote speaker for the 2006 NLADA Annual Conference. The Congressman’s co-sponsorship of anti-predatory lending legislation and support of increased funding for Section 8 housing vouchers are just two examples of his unceasing advocacy on issues that impact low-income people and the communities in which they live,” said Jo-Ann Wallace, NLADA president and CEO. “We are honored to have in Congressman Watt, a champion for equality who has demonstrated his commitment to Fostering Communities of Justice, Hope and Opportunity.”

Prior to his election to the House, Congressman Watt practiced law from 1970 to 1992, was a small business owner and served a term in the North Carolina Senate, where he was called “the conscience of the Senate.” While in the North Carolina State Senate, Congressman Watt sponsored significant legislation affecting the rights of poor people and worked closely with Don Saunders, director of NLADA Civil Legal Services, to establish a low-income housing trust fund to address the needs of low-income North Carolinians. He served as president of the Mecklenburg County Bar and has been a member of many professional, community and civic boards and organizations. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and he received his juris doctorate from Yale University Law School in 1970.

For more information on the NLADA Annual Conference, please visit www.nlada.org/training.

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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.