WASHINGTON, DC, September 26, 2011 — A champion of civil rights with a distinguished record of death penalty defense and a woman who stood up for herself in a male-dominated trade before standing up in court for victims of domestic and sexual violence have been selected as this year’s recipients of the prestigious Kutak-Dodds Prizes, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) announced today.

The annual prizes are sponsored jointly by NLADA and the Robert J. Kutak Foundation and carry a $10,000 cash award in recognition of civil legal aid attorneys, public defenders and public interest advocates who best exemplify how the legal profession can enhance the human dignity and quality of life of those persons unable to afford legal representation. The awards will be presented on December 6 at the NLADA Exemplar Award Dinner, at Historic Union Station in Washington, DC.

Sam Dalton, the founding chairman of the Jefferson Parish Indigent Defender Board in Louisiana, who has represented poor defendants for nearly six decades, is the Kutak-Dodds Prize awardee for public defense; and Wendy Pollack, founding member of a women’s carpenters organization in Chicago who now serves as director of the Women's Law and Policy Project at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, is the Kutak-Dodds Prize awardee for civil legal services.

“Both Sam Dalton and Wendy Pollack have remarkable stories of working for many years to restore dignity for their clients while delivering justice,” said Jo-Ann Wallace, NLADA president and CEO. “In this centennial year, NLADA is especially proud to acknowledge two shining stars of our profession, who have fought with courage and commitment to accumulate a long record of accomplishments and a legacy in civil and public defense.”

Sam Dalton traces his lineage to the notorious bank-robbing Dalton Gang of the Wild West on his paternal side and to the first governor of Tennessee on his maternal side. He was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1927, graduated from Loyola University Law School in 1954 and has represented poor defendants for nearly six decades. He has worked on more than 300 capital cases and estimates that he personally has saved 15 men from execution. He founded the Jefferson Parish Indigent Defense Board in 1976 and has built a reputation for integrity, creative legal theories and compassion for the downtrodden. He is known for his lengthy court filings that are thorough and rich in constitutional law. New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist James Gill praised Dalton as the “old lion” of Louisiana courtrooms, at a time in which he had filed an ultimately successful suit stopping the state from imposing extra fees on people released from jail on bond. In 1994, Dalton received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Loyola University, which recognized his “great heart,” “great conscience,” “enormous compassion” and “legendary” legal assistance to the poor. “Mr. Dalton is a veteran defense attorney and strident death penalty opponent known for his expertise in death penalty cases, both at trial and on appeal, including post-conviction relief for death row inmates,” Louisiana State Public Defender Jean M. Faria said in her nominating letter. At age 84, he continues to represent poor citizens accused of crimes even while undergoing chemotherapy the past several years.

Wendy Pollack completed a four-year apprenticeship with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1982, starting a fascinating career that would lead to significant advancements in careers for women and protecting their legal interests. She led the Chicago Women in Trades in its successful strategies against race and sex discrimination and harassment. When she decided on a legal career, she attended Harvard University Law School, provided clinical legal services and gave an assignment to a younger student, Barack Obama. She later joined the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, and focused on welfare-to-work issues. She left the organization in 1996 to join the National Clearinghouse for Legal Services and formed what is now The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Highlights of her legal career include class-action victories reforming child support enforcement, striking down unconstitutional rules, resisting closure of an important trade school and eliminating waiting lists for the child care subsidy program. “Perhaps her most remarkable body of work, however, involves her comprehensive set of victories on the policies, procedures, rights and services regarding victims of domestic and sexual violence,” John Bouman, president of The Shriver Center, said in his nominating letter. “She combines the hard-won wisdom of a discriminated-against worker in a physically demanding trade and an in-the-trenches high-volume direct service lawyer, with the top-notch intellect, sophisticated skills and seasoned judgment of an excellent policy advocate.”

For their extraordinary contributions to justice for all, NLADA is honored to present Sam Dalton and Wendy Pollack with the 2011 Kutak-Dodds Prizes. For more information on the Kutak-Dodds Prizes, contact Deborah Dubois, vice president of development, marketing and communications, at (202) 452-0620, ext. 223 or d.dubois@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.

National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is America’s oldest and largest nonprofit association devoted to excellence in the delivery of legal services to those who cannot afford counsel. For 100 years, NLADA has pioneered access to justice at the national, state and local level through the creation of our public defender system, development of nationally applicable standards for legal representation, groundbreaking legal legislation and the creation of important institutions such as the Legal Services Corporation. NLADA serves as the collective voice for our country’s civil legal aid and public defender services.