Reginald Heber Smith Award (annual)

Steve Gottlieb found himself in Atlanta almost serendipitously. In his second year of law school at the University of Pennsylvania, he applied for a summer job at Atlanta Legal Aid, was accepted, journeyed south, and “got hooked.” After graduating in 1969, he returned as a Reginald Heber Smith fellow. In the next five years, he worked in and managed three of Atlanta Legal Aid’s offices. He then managed the Savannah Office of the Georgia Legal Services Program. In 1977, he returned to Atlanta as the Deputy Director of Atlanta Legal Aid. He became its executive director in 1980 and is among the longest serving legal aid directors in the country.

Steve has weathered at least three major funding crises during his tenure and has overseen a diversification of revenue sources that has permitted Atlanta Legal Aid to continue its core functions in good times and bad. In addition to its traditional poverty law of practice, Steve has presided over the development of nine of Atlanta Legal Aid’s 10 special programs. He inherited the still-thriving Senior Citizens Law Project and encouraged the institution and growth of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, the Disability Integration Project, the Home Defense Program, the AIDS/ALS & Cancer Initiative, the Hispanic Outreach Law Project, the Grandparent/Relative Caregiver Project, the Georgia Senior Legal Hotline, TeamChild Atlanta, and the Health Law Partnership. That last program is a collaboration among Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia State’s College of Law, and Atlanta Legal Aid.

Steve believes in equal access to justice and the avenue that leads there: representation by high quality and dedicated counsel. Highly regarded for its professionalism in the legal community, Atlanta Legal Aid has enjoyed many successes, including the high profile Olmstead case (the Brown v. Board of Education of disability rights), won in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999. For his leadership, Steve has received a number of state and local awards and has twice been recognized by the ABA for his work.

Steve Gottlieb found himself in Atlanta almost serendipitously. In his second year of law school at the University of Pennsylvania, he applied for a summer job at Atlanta Legal Aid, was accepted, journeyed south, and “got hooked.” After graduating in 1969, he returned as a Reginald Heber Smith fellow. In the next five years, he worked in and managed three of Atlanta Legal Aid’s offices. He then managed the Savannah Office of the Georgia Legal Services Program. In 1977, he returned to Atlanta as the Deputy Director of Atlanta Legal Aid. He became its executive director in 1980 and is among the longest serving legal aid directors in the country.

Steve has weathered at least three major funding crises during his tenure and has overseen a diversification of revenue sources that has permitted Atlanta Legal Aid to continue its core functions in good times and bad. In addition to its traditional poverty law of practice, Steve has presided over the development of nine of Atlanta Legal Aid’s 10 special programs. He inherited the still-thriving Senior Citizens Law Project and encouraged the institution and growth of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, the Disability Integration Project, the Home Defense Program, the AIDS/ALS & Cancer Initiative, the Hispanic Outreach Law Project, the Grandparent/Relative Caregiver Project, the Georgia Senior Legal Hotline, TeamChild Atlanta, and the Health Law Partnership. That last program is a collaboration among Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia State’s College of Law, and Atlanta Legal Aid.

Steve believes in equal access to justice and the avenue that leads there: representation by high quality and dedicated counsel. Highly regarded for its professionalism in the legal community, Atlanta Legal Aid has enjoyed many successes, including the high profile Olmstead case (the Brown v. Board of Education of disability rights), won in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999. For his leadership, Steve has received a number of state and local awards and has twice been recognized by the ABA for his work.

Peter Komlos-Hrobsky has worked for legal services since the 1970s. Prior to law school, Peter worked at the Native American Rights Fund and helped start the National Indian law Library in Boulder, Colorado. After graduating from law school at the University of Kansas in 1977, Peter worked for legal services at the Zuni and Laguna Pueblos in New Mexico. In 1978, he and his wife, Elisabeth, moved to Tennessee where Peter worked for legal services in Nashville.

In 1982, Peter and Liz moved to Los Angeles where Peter worked for the National Senior Citizens Law Center on Social Security, disability, and home care issues, including cases reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1990, the family, including five-year-old daughter Emma, moved back to Boulder. Peter took a position at Colorado Legal Services in Denver, where he has specialized in public benefits appeals, litigation, and policy issues for the past 24 years.

For the past 17 years, Claudia Trupp has worked at the Center for Appellate Litigation (CAL ), a nonprofit law firm in New York City. Now a supervising attorney, Ms. Trupp is the founder and director of the Center’s Justice First Project, a program designed to detect wrongful convictions at the earliest stages of the appellate process and actively reinvestigate those cases. Since its inception in 2002, the project has achieved impressive results, exonerating several clients and earning new trials for many more. Ms. Trupp also supervises CAL ’s parole advocacy project as well as the office’s client reentry program. She regularly speaks on criminal law matters and has taught appellate advocacy. In 2007, she was awarded the Outstanding Public Service award from the New York County Lawyers’ Association. Her memoir, Hard Time and Nursery Rhymes, which recounts her efforts to balance raising three daughters with the demands of being a public defender, was published in 2009.

Nzinga Hill is the supervising attorney of the Child in Need of Care Case Unit with the Orleans Public Defenders, where she represents parents in cases involving Louisiana’s child protection officials.  In addition to working to continuously improve representation for parents in CINC cases, Ms. Hill serves on committees dedicated to improving outcomes for families in Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.  Born and raised in New Orleans, Ms. Hill returned to the city after completing law school and has worked with families in crisis and as a civil rights attorney throughout her legal career.  Immediately prior to joining OPD, she served on the faculty of Tulane University Law School as a clinical instructor supervising student representation of clients in domestic violence cases.

Victor Geminiani began his career as a Vista Volunteer lawyer with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. He has served as the Director of Litigation and Law Reform with Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services and as Executive Director of the Legal Services of Western Massachusetts, the Legal Services of Northern California, the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. He has also worked in the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) as Associate Director of Support and Finances responsible for LSC funding policy and as the South East Regional Director overseeing the 75 legal services programs in the 10 southern states.

Victor has served in a variety of capacities with the boards of several of national associations including the executive committee of NLADA, as founding board member and President of the Management Information Exchange and as a board member of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) and Chair of the Section"s Pro Bono committee. He also served as a member of the ABA's Standing Committee on Pro Bono and on the Delivery of Legal Services Committee. He has been presented with the Litigation Section's John Minor Wisdom Award and the Hawaii State Bar Association's Champion for Social Justice Award.

Bill Hoerger recently completed his 30th year with CRLA, the last 16 in his current role. He joined CRLS to be trial counsel for farmworkers, small farmers and consumers suing the Regents of the University of California, challenging
their use of federal Land-Grant university research appropriations in a case that acquired national notoriety as the so-called “tomato-harvester”, or [anti-] “mechanization” lawsuit. That action, developed by legal services giant Ralph
Abascal, encountered unexpected twists that consumed five years of trial(s) and appeal.

Subsequently, Hoerger become one of CRLA’s Regional Counsel, ultimately for CRLA’s statewide Migrant Project. In 1996, he became one of CRLA’s original DLATs. Hoerger’s focus has been employment law, collaborating with CRLA’s farmworker advocates to develop litigation as well as statutory and regulatory frameworks to ensure wage payments to workers. This work resulted in two significant California Supreme Court decisions: one which reversed a lower appellate decision and established the widely-cited California standard for distinguishing between employees and independent contractors (Borello & Sons v. Dept. of Industrial Relations); the second, a 7-0 decision holding that employer liability for wages was defined by century-old, Progressive-era state wage promulgations – rather than either federal standards or common law – essentially reversing the same panel’s unanimous decision five years earlier (Martinez v. Combs). Hoerger has influenced a wide array of developments in the law with enormous positive impact for employees in California by authoring California Continuing Legal Education texts to pioneering other creative and far-reaching litigation campaigns.

Jeff Adachi exemplifies the spirit of the “Reggie” by providing extraordinary and successful legal advocacy on behalf of approximately 25,000 indigent people who are accused of crimes in San Francisco each year. Since his election in 2002, Adachi has turned the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office into a top notch criminal defense firm that boasts a 50 percent win rate of all cases taken to trial. Under Adachi’s leadership, the office has developed an aggressive training program in which deputy district attorneys, investigators, paralegals and members of the office staff keep their skills sharp and current. As a result, those who cannot afford an attorney are provided competent, vigorous legal representation.

Adachi has significantly advanced the cause of equal justice for both individuals and communities outside the courtroom as well. He founded the Clean Slate program, a free service that offers people with old convictions a chance to clear their records, which has led thousands of people over the past decade to find vocational, educational and housing opportunities. He has taken a holistic approach to justice, providing a panoply of innovative programs to public defender clients such as drug court, behavioral health court, a full service juvenile division and on-site social workers. In 2011, Adachi exposed to the public numerous instances of police misconduct inside San Francisco’s residential motels. The revelations resulted in an ongoing FBI investigation, the dissolution of a troubled undercover unit, and nearly a dozen problem police officers being taken off the streets. Over three months, Adachi and his staff released surveillance video from the hotels to media outlets. Caught on camera were police officers entering rooms and searching without warrants or permission, using excessive force and stealing property from San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents.

Adachi’s efforts were featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and numerous other media outlets, calling national attention to routine injustice against the poor. The same year, Adachi produced a television PSA, “Innocent Until Proven Guilty,” which takes aim at racial profiling while illustrating for viewers the presumption of innocence. In 2009, Adachi successfully challenged budget cuts to his office by refusing to take on new cases, rallying the public in front of San Francisco City Hall, writing numerous op-eds, taking on the mayor and lobbying the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Adachi is also an outspoken defender of civil rights for San Franciscans who do not have a strong voice in the public sphere. He has vigorously opposed laws such as sit-lie that attempt to criminalize homelessness and has successfully defended individuals who were barred from their neighborhoods due to being unfairly placed on gang injunction lists.

The recipient of numerous awards, former president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Bay Area and consummate scholar and trainer, Adachi is a tireless advocate for the rights of the accused.

For 30 years, Josefina Pantoja-Oquendo has served as a staff attorney for Puerto Rico Legal Services, dedicating almost all of her years of practice to serving indigent people and communities. Active in a variety of groups that advocate for human rights, she has dedicated herself to training parents of children with disabilities as advocates for their children.

Pantoja-Oquendo’s legal achievements began in 1974 as an attorney with the Consumer Affairs Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. She joined Puerto Rico Legal Services, Inc. (PRLS) in 1977, beginning her journey with the Carolina Direct Service Office, transferring shortly thereafter to the Environmental Rights Division and then the Support Center. Pantoja-Oquendo was a member of the legal team that represented plaintiffs in a class action (Rosa Lydia Velez v. Department of Education) seeking implementation of the Education for the Handicapped Act on behalf of indigent education students, pushing the effort to bring the Puerto Rico Department of Education into compliance with its legal and moral obligation to provide adequate special education services for this population.

Pantoja-Oquendo’s dedication to a number of causes has been recognized by a variety of groups, including that Puerto Rican Defense and Education Fund in NY; the Puerto Rican Bar Association’s Women Commission and by the Women’s Advocate Office.

After 30 years of service as a civil legal aid attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM), Ann B. Lever retired on September 4th of this year. Lever’s history as an innovative litigator put her at the forefront in preserving low-income housing, enforcing fair housing laws and helping clients gain access to health care, education, public benefits and immigration benefits.  Her extraordinary commitment to her clients in whose name action was brought has impacted thousands of individuals inside and outside the eastern Missouri legal community. 

Lever’s legal achievements began while interning at LSEM in 1978, when she drafted legislation that provided for court-issued Orders of Protection prohibiting persons from abusing another with whom they live; allowed the abuser to be excluded from the home; and permitted the court to address financial support issues.  The proposed legislation became law in 1980 giving Missourians access to legal protection from domestic violence for the first time.

For the next 30 years, Lever’s legal achievements on behalf of low-income individuals continued to grow.  In 1989, Lever successfully demonstrated that the restrictions on coverage for the drug Retrovir (AZT) violated federal law by denying medically necessary treatment.  Thousands of lives were prolonged as a result of her success.  In 2006, Lever led an effort to file an Administrative Procedures Act Claim with the District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, successfully challenging the government’s withholding of decisions on naturalization for 50 Bosnian refugees.
 

With responsibility for 40 offices with more than 700 lawyers, Michael Judge serves as the primary legal counsel for low-income people in Los Angeles who are charged with a crime. Appointed chief public defender in 1994, his career with the public defender’s office has spanned more than 30 years. Judge’s progressive approach to public defense includes embracing holistic programs and initiatives. He has provided consistent leadership bringing people together to craft creative solutions that address root issues with an appreciation of the developmental, educational, psychological and sociological history of each individual represented.

“From personal experience over my many years here, I have never met anyone in our community as effective as Michael has been in getting our colleagues from around the state to join in on a wide variety of criminal justice issues that brought about real and measurable effects,” California Public Defenders Association Executive Director Michael E. Cantrall said in his letter of support for Judge’s nomination. “One of the key features that has made Michael P. Judge so unique and so effective in bringing about changes in our criminal justice system is really simple, but few, other than great leaders, ever get it. He has the wisdom to realize that significant change in our criminal justice system is best brought about by way of collaborative efforts. And with this wisdom, Michael Judge has over the years employed his ability to energize and motivate scores of chief public defenders, trial attorneys (private and public defenders), appellate defense attorneys, and myself, a 29-year executive director of the California Public Defenders Association, to happily spend many volunteer hours working on projects that will (and have) increased the quality and quantity of indigent defense services in our state be it new legislation dealing with eyewitness testimony, jailhouse informants, expungements, testimony in legislative hearings on statewide ballot measures affecting the legal system, on new state bar guidelines to increase oversight of defense
standards on the local level, and similar matters.”
 

As an advocate for legal services, Tawatao has developed a national reputation for her groundbreaking advocacy on housing preservation and race equity initiatives. In 2003, Tawatao was the moving force responsible for convening a legal services retreat on race equity advocacy. Using the latest data, social science theory, as well as nuts and bolts advocacy tools, she challenged LSNC staff and the broader public interest community to assess all substantive work as a vehicle to close the opportunity gaps which divide our communities along racial lines. To her clients she is a trusted voice and resource. She also understands that for a community organizing effort to be successful, it must rest squarely on the shoulders of her clients. The decisions and responsibility must be their own.

“These five individuals strive every day to make a difference in the lives of people in need,” said NLADA President & CEO Jo-Ann Wallace. “They have proactively stepped forward to create systems and programs that both benefit the low-income community and engage them in the delivery of services. Whether it is by acting as legal counsel; helping to secure positive and fair change in the laws and policies of our local, state and federal governments; or acting as advocate and a steadfast ally to those without the ability to protect themselves, Stuart, Mona, Amelia, Peggy, and Bennett and the Public Defender’s Office of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida are true champions for equal justice. They fight each day, with great success, to ensure that the promise of fair and equal justice is available to everyond today.”

Shelley Davis has demonstrated, during a distinguished 27 year career, a powerful dedication to the interests of poor people, exceptional legal skill in several disciplines and multiple forums,and outstanding achievements through extraordinary and successful legal advocacy on behalf of clients who could not otherwise afford counsel. She has significantly advanced the cause of equal justice for individual clients and low-income communities and has made significant contributions
in several areas of public-interest law and for several important large groups of disadvantaged people. While employed at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, at two different times in her career, Davis litigated class actions and engaged in high-impact policy work on behalf of poor people who were deprived of special education services, mental health services and Social Security benefits.

For 18 of the last 20 years, Davis has represented migrant and seasonal farm workers and their family members at the national and local levels in the complex areas of labor law, immigration policy, occupational safety, environmental justice and access to health care. She has engaged in advocacy in virtually every available forum: federal and state courts at every level, administrative agencies, state and federal legislatures and the court of public opinion. Her work has been international in scope to address the transnational character of the farm labor force. Davis has become widely known among farm worker, environmental, civil rights, Latino, labor and public health advocates – for her strenuous advocacy in courts, Congress and administrative agencies to prevent farm workers and farm worker communities from being poisoned by pesticides.

Delaware established one of the first statewide public defender systems in 1964. Since 1970, Lawrence Sullivan has served as Delaware’s public defender. During his tenure, Sullivan has gone far beyond the call of Gideon v. Wainwright. Throughout Sullivan’s distinguished career, he has significantly advanced the case of equal justice for indigent defendants. His valuable mixture of pragmatism and forward-looking vision has resulted in several “firsts” including, but not limited
to, the nation’s first Psycho-Forensic Unit and the nation’s first statewide criminal justice videophone system. Some of the other innovative programs Sullivan has initiated include: comprehensive capital defense teams and mitigation specialists, where each capital client is represented by such a team that includes a lead counsel, an associate counsel, a mitigation specialist, a forensic unit member, a fact investigator and at least one outside expert to screen for mental or psychological disorders. The lead counsel on these teams has at least ten years experience and a prior capital case experience, giving the capital client the best defense possible. Sullivan makes sure that mitigation work is an integral part of the capital defense, resulting in a high number of pre-trial resolutions or mitigation hearing advocacy rather than death sentences.

In 2000, Sullivan initiated a statewide Innocence Project to provide representation to defendants seeking post-conviction DNA testing. He has also made inhouse training in the science of DNA mandatory for his trial attorneys and staff. As a result, Delaware defendants have the benefit of well-trained local attorneyswith greater access to potentially exculpatory evidence to investigate and present viable Innocence Project claims. Participation in the project has also provided
valuable DNA expertise to Sullivan’s trial attorneys.