This annual luncheon, co-presented with the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, provides an opportunity to recognize outstanding members of the legal community who make significant contributions to their communities and to the profession through their volunteer and pro bono efforts. The 2004 Access to Justice Awards will be presented to: Lynn Whitney, Pro Bono Publico Award; Daniel E. Callahan, Defender Award; John E. Willshire-Carrera, Legal Services Award; Mary E. Sawicki, Prosecutor Award; and Lian, Zarrow, Eynon & Shea, Pro Bono Law Firm Award.
This year's guest speaker is David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a volunteer staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he has argued cases including Texas v. Johnson and National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley before the U.S. Supreme Court and defended dozens of immigrants charged with being everything from "national security threats" to "advocates of world communism." Prof. Cole is author of the acclaimed new book "Enemy Aliens."
Also at the luncheon, Richard A. Johnston, Esq., of Hale and Dorr, will receive the Foundation's Great Friend of Justice Award. Johnston successfully represented the Massachusetts and Texas Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) programs against separate constitutional challenges in federal court. He was appointed a Special Assistant Attorney General, and provided pro bono representation to the IOLTA program and the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court.
Tickets to the luncheon are included in the full-conference and Friday registration fees. Single tickets may be purchased for $75 each, of which $20 is a tax-deductible contribution to the Massachusetts Bar Foundation. Conference attendees may make a contribution to the Foundation at the luncheon.